Monarchy of Sweden

This article is about the history, function and symbols of the Swedish monarchy as an institution. For a list of kings and queens regnant of Sweden, see List of Swedish monarchs, for a list of Swedish princes and princesses, past and present, see Swedish Royal Family.

About 1000 A.D., the first king known to rule both Svealand and Götaland was Olof Skötkonung, but further history for the next two centuries is obscure, with many kings whose tenures and actual influence/power remains unclear. The Royal Court of Sweden, however, does count Olof's father, Eric the Victorious, as Sweden's first king, the power of the king was greatly strengthened[why?] by the introduction of Christianity during the 11th century, and the following centuries saw a process of consolidation of power into the hands of the king. The Swedes traditionally elected a king from a favored dynasty at the Stones of Mora, and the people had the right to elect the king as well as to depose him, the ceremonial stones were destroyed around 1515.[citation needed]

In the 12th century, the consolidation of Sweden was still affected by dynastic struggles between the Erik and Sverker clans, which ended when a third clan married into the Erik clan and the House of Bjelbo was established on the throne. That dynasty formed pre-Kalmar Union Sweden into a strong state, and finally king Magnus IV (reigned 1319-1364) even ruled Norway (1319-1343) and Scania (1332-1360). Following the Black Death,[clarification needed] the union weakened, and Scania reunited with Denmark.

In 1397, after the Black Death and domestic power struggles, Queen Margaret I of Denmark united Sweden (then including Finland), Denmark and Norway (then including Iceland) in the Union of Kalmar with the approval of the Swedish nobility. Continual tension within each country and the union led to open conflict between the Swedes and the Danes in the 15th century, the union's final disintegration in the early 16th century led to prolonged rivalry between Denmark-Norway and Sweden (with Finland) for centuries to come.

Tax reforms took place in 1538 and 1558, whereby multiple complex taxes on independent farmers were simplified and standardised throughout the district[clarification needed] and tax assessments per farm were adjusted to reflect ability to pay. Crown tax revenues increased, but more importantly the new system was perceived as fairer. A war with Lübeck in 1535 resulted in the expulsion of the Hanseatic traders, who previously had had a monopoly on foreign trade, with its own burghers in charge, Sweden's economic strength grew rapidly, and by 1544 Gustav controlled 60% of the farmlands in all of Sweden. Sweden now built the first modern army in Europe, supported by a sophisticated tax system and an efficient bureaucracy.[8]

At the death of King Gustav I in 1560, he was succeeded by his oldest son Eric XIV, his reign was marked by Sweden's entrance into the Livonian War and the Northern Seven Years' War. The combination of Eric's developing mental disorder and his opposition to the aristocracy led to the Sture Murders in 1567 and the imprisonment of his brother John (III), who was married to Catherine Jagiellon, sister of King Sigismund II of Poland.[9] In 1568 Eric was dethroned and succeeded by John III; in domestic politics John III showed clear Catholic sympathies, inspired by his queen, creating friction with the Swedish clergy and nobility. He reintroduced several Catholic traditions previously abolished, and his foreign policy was affected by his family connection to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, where his eldest son had been made King Sigismund III in 1587.[n 3] Following the death of his father, Sigismund tried to rule Sweden from Poland, leaving Sweden under the control of a regent — his paternal uncle (Gustav I's youngest son) Charles (IX) — but was unable to defend his Swedish throne against the ambitions of his uncle. In 1598 Sigismund and his Swedish-Polish army was defeated at the Battle of Stångebro by the forces of Charles, and he was declared deposed by the Estates in 1599.

As the heiress presumptive, at the age of six Christina succeeded her father on the Swedish throne (being the only person left in the line of succession), although a regency government would rule in her name until she turned 18 years of age, during the regency, Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna wrote the 1634 Instrument of Government, which although never approved by any monarch, nevertheless would continue to have an important normative role in the state administration. Christina early on showed an interest in literature and the sciences and famously brought René Descartes to Sweden. Sweden continued to be involved in the Thirty Years' War during reign of Christina and that conflict was settled at the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, and the Swedish monarch received representation at the Imperial Diet due to the German conquests (Bremen-Verden and Swedish Pomerania) that were made.[n 7] After having decided not to get married, Christina abdicated the throne on 5 June 1654, in favor of her cousin Charles Gustav[n 8], went abroad and converted to Roman Catholicism.

Charles X Gustav died in Gothenburg in 1660 and as the Crown passed to his five-year-old son Charles XI, a new regency government would assume the responsibilities of the state, the regency government, composed of aristocrats and led by Chancellor Count Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, was more interested in feathering their own nests rather than to work in the interest of the country at large. When Charles XI came of age in 1672, the effectiveness of the armed forces had seriously deteriorated and the country was ill-prepared as the King of Denmark, Christian V, invaded to settle old scores, the Danes were ultimately unsuccessful in their attempts, and Charles XI would undertake several measures to prevent what had just almost happened from occurring again: reducing the influence of the aristocracy by nationalizing estates and properties which had been handed out to them by his predecessors, introducing the Allotment system (Swedish: indelningsverket) which would form the basis of the armed forces until the 20th century, and with the support of the Estates he was declared in 1680 an absolute monarch.

Charles XI was succeeded by his son, Charles XII, who would prove to be an extremely able military commander, defeating far larger enemies with the small but highly professional Swedish army, his defeat of the Russians at Narva when just 18 years old was to be his greatest victory. However his campaigning at the head of his army during the Great Northern War would ultimately lead to catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Poltava after which he spent several years in Turkey (now Moldova), some years later he was killed at the Siege of Fredriksten during an attempt to invade Norway. The Swedish Age of Greatness (Swedish: stormaktstiden) had ended. [n 9]

Charles XII's sister, Ulrika Eleonora, had now inherited the throne but she was forced by the Estates to sign the 1719 Instrument of Government, which ended the absolute monarchy and made the Riksdag of the Estates the highest organ of the state and reduced the role of monarch to a figurehead. The Age of Liberty (Swedish: frihetstiden) with its parliamentary rule, dominated by two parties — the Caps and the Hats — had begun. Ulrika Eleonora had had enough after a year on the throne and abdicated in favor of her husband, Frederick, who had little interest in the affairs of state and was elected King by the Estates as King Frederick I, resulting in the 1720 Instrument of Government: content-wise almost identical to the one from 1719. Despite having many extra-marital affairs, Frederick I never sired a legitimate heir to the throne.

This section needs expansion with: Important 18th century absolute and constitutional monarchy period missing; unclear sequence of events; work in progress. You can help by adding to it.(November 2014)

Although the 19th century Bernadotte monarchs that would follow Charles XIV John's reign tried to defend the power and privileges they still had, the tide incrementally turned against "personal regal rule" (Swedish: personlig kungamakt) with the growth of the liberals, social democrats, and the expansion of the franchise.[13]

When King Gustav V publicly objected to the defence budget cuts made by Prime Minister Karl Staaf and the cabinet just before the First World War in event known as the Courtyard Crisis accompanied by the Peasant armament support march (Swedish: bondetåget), it was seen as a deliberate provocation by conservatives and reactionaries against the uncodified norm of a parliamentary system supported by the liberals and the social democrats, leading to Staaf's resignation.[14] Gustaf V then appointed a caretaker government, supported by the conservatives, led by legal scholar Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, which remained in power longer than expected due to the outbreak of World War I (in which Sweden remained neutral) and increased defence spending was no longer a controversial issue.[15] Nevertheless, in the year of the outbreak of the Russian revolution, social tensions continued to rise; the general election in 1917 gave the liberals and social democrats greatly strengthened representation in both Riksdag chambers and a conservative government was no longer a defensible option.[15] Following the definite breakthrough of parliamentarism in 1917, with the appointment of the coalition government of liberals and social democrats led by Professor Nils Edén, the political influence of the King was considerably reduced and an unwritten constitutional precedent was set that would remain in effect until 1975.[16][17]

King Gustaf VI Adolf succeeded his elderly father who died in 1950, and he is generally regarded as a constitutional monarch who stayed out of politics and controversy; in 1954, a royal commission began work on whether Sweden should undergo constitutional reform to adapt the 1809 Instrument of Government to current political realities, or whether a new one should be written; ultimately the latter idea was chosen.[19] The future role of the monarchy was settled in a manner well known within Swedish political discourse: a political compromise reached at the summer resort Torekov in 1971 (hence known as the Torekov compromise, Swedish: Torekovskompromissen) by representatives of four of the parties in the Riksdag (the Social Democrats, the Centre Party, the Liberal People's Party, and the Moderate Party, that is all the parties except the Communists). [n 10][19] It mandated that the monarchy would remain largely as it was but would become entirely ceremonial, without any residual political powers left.[19]

Following the required double Riksdag votes that took place in 1973 and 1974, a new Instrument of Government was brought into effect, the monarch's functions and duties, as defined in the 1974 Constitution Act, include heading the special cabinet council held when there is a change of government, but no executive powers with respect to the governance of the realm are vested in him.[21][22]

When, on 1 January 1975, it replaced the Instrument of Government of 1809 as part of the Constitution of Sweden, the Instrument of Government of 1974 (Swedish: 1974 års regeringsform) transformed the advisory Council of State (Swedish: Statsrådet) into the collegial Government (Swedish: Regeringen), to which all executive power was transferred.[23][24] Responsibility for nominating and dismissing the prime minister (who, since 1975, is elected by the Riksdag) was transferred to the Speaker of the Riksdag and the prime minister appoints and dismisses the other ministers at his or her discretion.[24][25][26][n 11] Further, bills passed by the Riksdag become law without royal assent: the prime minister or any other cabinet minister signs them "On Behalf of the Government" (Swedish: På regeringens vägnar).[28] Although the unwritten precedent was set in 1917, when Gustaf V had little choice but to support the idea of a parliamentary system and promised Prime Minister Nils Edén to stop seeking advice from secret advisors other than the duly appointed cabinet ministers and not to interfere in politics again;[17][29] the Torekov compromise, struck in 1971 by the four major parties at the time, provided, and continues to provide, a majority consensus in Swedish political discourse on the role of the monarchy within the constitutional framework.[19][22][30] The official motive for the radical changes which came to pass in 1975 was for it to be as descriptive as possible of the workings of the state and clear on how decisions actually are made.[28]Minister of JusticeLennart Geijer further remarked on the 1973 government bill that any continued pretensions of royal involvement in government decision making would be of a "fictitious nature" and therefore "highly unsatisfactory".[28]

Thus, the monarch lost all formal executive powers, becoming a ceremonial and representative figurehead.[28][30][31] The monarch, while explicitly referred to as the "Head of State" (Swedish: Statschefen) in the 1974 Instrument of Government[n 12], is not even the nominal chief executive.[n 13][22][23][36] The Instrument of Government of 1974 does grant the person serving as king or queen regnantabsolute immunity from criminal (but not civil) charges for as long as he or she remains in office,[37][n 14] the monarch therefore cannot be prosecuted or otherwise held to account for his or her actions, both official and private, in judicial proceedings.[37] None of the other members of the Royal Family or the employees the Royal Court enjoy similar immunity.[37]

At the request of the Speaker of the Riksdag, the monarch opens the annual session of the Riksdag (Swedish: Riksmötets öppnande) in the chamber of the Riksdag building.[n 15][39] The king or queen regnant also receives Letters of Credence of foreign ambassadors sent to Sweden and signs those of Swedish ambassadors sent abroad.[21] The monarch also chairs the Cabinet Council (Swedish: skifteskonselj) in a session that establishes the new government following a general election or major cabinet reshuffle and also chairs information councils (Swedish: informationskonselj) approximately four times a year to get information from the assembled Government, apart from that given by ministers in individual audiences or through other means.[21][40] Formally, it is the explicit responsibility of the prime minister to keep the monarch informed on the affairs of the realm; the failure to do so following the 2004 tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean (in which many Swedes perished) gave rise to wide criticism of Prime Minister Göran Persson for his handling of the matter.[37] The monarch also chairs the Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs (Swedish: Utrikesnämnden), a body that enables the government of the day to inform not only the head of state, but also the speaker and representatives of the opposition parties in the Riksdag, on foreign affairs issues in a confidential manner.[21][40][41]

While the monarch is no longer the commander-in-chief (Swedish: högste befälhavare) of the Swedish Armed Forces, as he once was under the 1809 Instrument of Government[19] (and much older custom, as shown in the history section), King Carl XVI Gustaf is the foremost representative of the Swedish defence establishment and holds supreme rank in each of the service arms. He ranks as a four star admiral in the Swedish Navy and general in the Swedish Army and Air Force.[21] As part of his court, the monarch has a military staff, which is headed by a senior officer (usually a general or admiral, retired from active service) and includes active duty military officers serving as aides-de-camp to the monarch and his or her family.[42]

The monarch and members of the Royal Family undertake a variety of official, unofficial and other representative duties within Sweden and abroad, the monarch and his or her family play a central role in state visits to Sweden and conduct state visits to other nations on behalf of Sweden. Other members of the Royal Family may also represent the country abroad at lesser functions.

Eriksgata was the name of the traditional journey of newly elected medieval Swedish kings through important provinces to have their election confirmed by local Things. The actual election took place at the Stone of Mora in Uppland and participation was originally restricted to the people of that area; hence, the need of having the election confirmed by the other parts of the realm. The Eriksgata gradually lost its importance when, as of the 14th century, representatives of other parts of Sweden began to participate in the election, after 1544, when hereditary monarchy was instituted, that meant that the Eriksgata had little practical importance. The last king to travel the Eriksgata according to the old tradition was Charles IX, whose reign began in 1604. Later, kings, up until present times, have made visits to all the Swedish provinces and called them an Eriksgata, while those visits bear little resemblance to the medieval tradition.

Sometimes the first part of the Latin title was Svionum or Sveonum, all three words meaning "of the Swedes", not "of Sweden".

Götes Konung (King of the Goths) dated back at least to Kings Magnus III, Erik the Saint, and Charles VII (and possibly to Inge the Elder, the title being used in a letter to Inge from the Pope). The title Svea Konung (King of the Swedes) dated to an older era.[citation needed] In the 16th century, it was changed to Sveriges Konung or Rex Sveciae (King of Sweden), a short form of the title that came be used sometimes in less formal circumstances.

The customary title of the heir apparent is Crown Prince of Sweden (Sveriges Kronprins) or, if female, Crown Princess of Sweden (Sveriges Kronprinsessa). The wife of a crown prince would also receive a corresponding title, but not the husband of a crown princess, the traditional official title used until 1980 for other dynastic male heirs was Hereditary Prince of Sweden (Sveriges arvfurste), although the word prince (prins) was used in constitutional legal texts such as the Act of Succession and also colloquially and informally. In all cases the title of princesses was Princess of Sweden (Prinsessa av Sverige), since 1980, the official title of all dynasts is Prince/Princess of Sweden (Prins/Prinsessa av Sverige).

The Swedish Succession Act was altered in 1980 to allow for female succession to the throne.[49]

King Gustav III revived a tradition from the time of Gustav Vasa and the medieval era by giving male heirs to the throne ducal titles of Swedish provinces. The difference between the ducal titles from the Vasa era and those granted by Gustav III is they now are non-hereditary courtesy titles given at birth, since 1980, they have been conferred to all royal heirs, male and female. The wives of royal dukes have always shared their husbands' titles; the husbands of royal duchesses have done so as of 2010.

The last King to have been crowned with a coronation was Oscar II, his son and successor, Gustaf V, abstained from having a coronation.[50] While the crowns and coronets have not been worn by Swedish royalty since 1907, they are nevertheless still displayed on royal occasions such as at weddings, christenings and funerals, until 1974, the crown and sceptre were also displayed on cushions beside the Silver Throne at the annual solemn opening of the Riksdag (Swedish: Riksdagens högtidliga öppnande).[50][51][52]

The Royal orders have a historical basis, dating back to the 1606 founding of the now extinct Jehova Order, the Royal Orders of Knights of Sweden were only truly codified in the 18th century, with their formal foundation in 1748 by King Frederick I. In 1974 the Riksdag significantly changed the conditions and criteria under which orders and decorations could be awarded: that no Swedish citizen outside the Royal Family is eligible to receive such decorations, the Order of the Seraphim (Swedish: Serafimerorden) is only awarded to foreign heads of state and members of the Swedish and foreign royal families, while the Order of the Polar Star (Swedish: Nordstjärneorden) can be bestowed on any non-Swedish citizen.[53] Following the reforms, the Order of the Sword (Swedish: Svärdsorden) and the Order of Vasa (Swedish: Vasaorden) are no longer conferred: officially they have been declared as "dormant".

The offices of the king, other members of the Swedish Royal Family, and the offices of the Royal Court are located in the palace, the Royal Palace is used for representative purposes and State occasions by the king.[1] The Royal Palace is guarded by Högvakten, a royal guard, consisting of regular service members of the Swedish Armed Forces,[57] the tradition of having a regular unit of the Army guarding at the royal residence dates back to 1523.[57] Until the mid 19th century, the royal guards also maintained law and order in the city and provided firefighting services.[57]

The southern façade faces the grand style slope Slottsbacken;[clarification needed] the eastern façade borders Skeppsbron, a quay which passes along the eastern waterfront of the old town; on the northern front Lejonbacken is a system of ramps named for the Medici lions, sculptures on the stone railings; and the western wings border the open space Högvaktsterrassen. The Royal Palace in Stockholm is unique among European royal residences in that large portions of it are open year-round to visitors, who pay entrance fees.[1]

The first building on this site was a fortress with a core tower built in the 13th century by Birger Jarl to defend the entry into Lake Mälaren. The fortress gradually grew to a castle, known as Tre Kronor: named after the spire on the centre tower with Three Crowns, which have become the Swedish national symbol;[n 18] in the late 16th century, work was done to transform the castle into a Renaissancepalace during the reign of John III. In 1690, it was decided that the castle be rebuilt in Baroque style in a design by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger; in 1692, work began on the northern row. However, much of the old castle was destroyed in a disastrous fire on 7 May 1697.

Tessin rebuilt the damaged palace, and work continued for another 63 years. Semicirclular wings around the outer western courtyard were finished in 1734, the palace church was finished in the 1740s, and the exterior was finished in 1754, the royal family moved to the palace with the southwest, southeast, and northeast wings finished. The northwest wing was finished in 1760; in the north, Lejonbacken (the "Lion's Slope") was rebuilt from 1824 to 1830.

Drottningholm Palace (Swedish: Drottningholms slott) is located at Drottningholm on the island of Lovön (in Ekerö Municipality of Stockholm County), and is one of Sweden's Royal Palaces. It was originally built in the late 16th century, it has served as a residence of the Swedish royal family members for most of the 18th and 19th centuries. Apart from being the current private residence of the King and Queen, Drottningholm Palace is a popular tourist attraction.[2]

The gardens and park areas surrounding Drottningholm Palace and adjacent to its buildings are one of the main attractions for the tourists that visit the palace each year, the gardens have been established in stages since the palace was first built, resulting in many different styles.[58]

The Swedish Royal Family is, according to the Royal Court, currently categorized into three groups;

first, those with royal titles and style (manner of address) who perform official and unofficial engagements for the nation, are the members of the Royal Family (Swedish: Kungafamiljen) (currently this category only includes the King, Queen and their descendants, including spouses);[63]

second, those with royal titles and style (manner of address) who performs no official engagements (Swedish: Kungliga Huset, usually stylized with the shortform Kungl. Huset);[63]

and third, the extended family of the King (Swedish: Kungliga Familjens övriga medlemmar, usually stylized with the shortform Kungl. Famljens övriga medlemmar) which is other close relatives who are not dynasts and thus do not represent the country officially.[63]

However, in any case, there is no legislation or other public document which delineates the rules of membership in either the Royal House or Royal Family, as it is left to the sole discretion of the King.

In its present reading, Article 1 of the Act of Succession limits the potential number of claimants to the throne, so that only the descendants of Carl XVI Gustaf can inherit the Throne.[65][66] If the royal house were to be extinct, the Riksdag is not obligated to elect a new royal house, as it once was up until the constitutional reforms of the 1970s.[37]

^The powers of the king were originally regulated by a section of the written legal code called Konungabalk (English: Kings' partition) from medieval times until 1734, when a new law code of Sweden was adopted and that section was removed. The new law code of Sweden was adopted after a long period of inquiries by royal commissions since the days of Charles IX (late 16th/early 17th century)

^The war against Denmark was concluded in 1613 with a peace treaty, which did not cost Sweden any territory, but Sweden was nevertheless forced to pay a heavy indemnity to Denmark (Treaty of Knäred) in order to regain control of Älvsborg fortress.

^Meanwhile, a Catholic army under Tilly was laying waste to Saxony. Gustavus Adolphus met Tilly's army and crushed it at the First Battle of Breitenfeld in September 1631, he then marched clear across Germany, establishing his winter quarters near the Rhine, making plans for the invasion of the rest of the Holy Roman Empire. In March 1632, Gustavus Adolphus invaded Bavaria, a staunch ally of the Emperor, he forced the withdrawal of his Catholic opponents at the Battle of Rain. In the summer of that year, he sought a political solution that would preserve the existing structure of states in Germany, while guaranteeing the security of its Protestants, but achieving these objectives depended on his continued success on the battlefield.

^Although the local conflict with Denmark-Norway, as part of the Thirty Years' War was settled at the Second Treaty of Brömsebro (1645), in which the Danes ceded the Norwegian provinces of Jämtland, Härjedalen and Idre & Särna as well as the Danish Baltic Sea islands of Gotland and Ösel. Sweden was furthermore exempted from the Sound Dues and received the Danish province of Halland for a period of 30 years as a guarantee of these provisions.

Art. 5. The King or Queen who occupies the throne of Sweden in accordance with the Act of Succession shall be the Head of State.[32]

^Given their predominance in 20th century Swedish politics, the public positions taken by the leaders of the Social Democrats are noteworthy; particularly given that their party programme does call for the abolishment of the monarchy.[33] Party leaders and prime ministers Hjalmar Branting, Per-Albin Hansson and Tage Erlander all made statements to the effect of being for a republic in principle whenever the issue was raised, but that it was not worth pursuing (presumably fearing an electoral backlash).[34] At the 1972 party congress of the Social Democrats, Prime Minister Olof Palme publicly defended the Torekov compromise, in response some members that yearned for a republic, by famously characterizing that the upcoming reforms would reduce the constitutional role of the monarchy to nothing but a "plume" (Swedish: plym) and thus paving the way to abolish the monarchy with the stroke of a pen (Swedish: penndrag) at some distant point in the future. Palme emphasized though that other reforms were far more important for the Social Democrats than abolishing the monarchy.[33][35] Successive leaders (and prime ministers) Ingvar Carlsson and Göran Persson have also defended the status quo.[33]

^This could be interpreted as "for life", given the historical precedent: no voluntary abdication has occurred since Ulrika Eleonora, in 1719 and only three hereditary monarchs have been involuntarily deposed (Eric XIV in 1568, Sigisumnd 1599, and Gustav IV Adolf in 1809).

Art. 6. A special meeting of the Chamber for the formal opening of a Riksdag session takes place no later than the third day of the session. At the request of the Speaker, the Head of State declares the session open. If the Head of State is unable to attend, the Speaker declares the session open.
At this meeting, the Prime Minister delivers a statement of Government policy unless there are special grounds why he or she should refrain from doing so.Time of meeting for the opening of the Riksdag sessionSupplementary provision3.6.1 The formal opening of the session after an election to the Riksdag takes place at 2 p.m. on the second day of the session.
In years in which no election to the Riksdag has been held, the formal opening takes place on the first day of the session at the same time.
The Speaker may appoint another time for the meeting.[38]

^According to the Gregorian calendar, the king died on 16 November, but the Julian calendar ("old style") was still used in Protestant Sweden at the time and the same date is still used now.

^Michael Roberts, The Early Vasas: A History of Sweden 1523-1611 (1968); Jan Glete, War and the State in Early Modern Europe: Spain, the Dutch Republic, and Sweden as Fiscal-Military States, 1500-1660 (2002) online edition

1.
Coat of arms of Sweden
–
The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Sweden has a lesser and a greater version. This includes any mark or text referring to the Swedish State which thus can give the commercial mark a sign of official endorsement and this includes municipal coats of arms which are registered. Any representation consisting of three crowns ordered two above one are considered to be the coat of arms, and its usage is therefore restricted by law 1970,498. The greater coat of arms is blazoned in Swedish law as follows, A shield azure, quartered by a cross Or with outbent arms, in the first and fourth fields three open crowns Or, placed two above one. In the second and third fields three sinisterbendwise streams argent, a lion crowned with an open crown Or armed gules, the inescutcheon is party per pale the arms for the House of Vasa, and the House of Bernadotte. The main shield is crowned by a crown and surrounded by the insignia of the Order of the Seraphim. Supported by two lions regardant, crowned and with forked tails Or armed gules, standing on a compartment Or, all surrounded by ermine mantling, crowned with a royal crown and tied up with tasseladorned strings Or. The greater arms may also be displayed only with the crowned escutcheon, while the arms have undergone significant changes over the years, such as changing the inescutcheon with the ruling dynasty, they are based on arms created by King Karl Knutsson in 1448. The escutcheon used in the greater blazon has in total five elements,4 quarterings on the main escutcheon, however, Bernadotte never used any stars in the arms of Pontecorvo contrary to the illustration below. The Big Dipper, or as it is called in Swedish, Karlavagnen, the arms are supported by two lions with forked tails, facing away from the shield and crowned with Royal Crowns. For centuries, the lion has been an important element in Swedish heraldry, the shield may be surmounted by the Collar of the Order of Seraphim, the foremost order in Sweden, and the highest honour the Swedish state can bestow on an individual. Blazon, The greater state arms consist of a shield azure, quartered by a cross or with outbent arms. In the first and fourth fields three coronets or, placed two above one, in the second and third fields three sinisterbendwise streams argent, a lion crowned with an open crown or with armaments gules. The inescutcheon is party per pale the arms for the House of Vasa, the main shield is crowned by a royal crown and surrounded by the insignia of the Order of the Seraphim. Supported by two lions regardant or crowned, with parted tails and armaments gules, standing on a postament, all surrounded by hermine mantling crowned with a royal crown and tied up with tasseled strings or. The lesser coat of arms is used by the Government of Sweden. As such it may be joined by insignias symbolising the activity of government agencies. It is, for instance, embroidered on all Swedish police uniforms, blazon, Azure, with three coronets Or, ordered two above one

2.
Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
–
Carl XVI Gustaf is the King of Sweden. He ascended the throne upon the death of his grandfather, King Gustaf VI Adolf on 15 September 1973 and he is the youngest child and only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The Kings heir apparent, upon passage on 1 January 1980 of a new law establishing absolute primogeniture, is Crown Princess Victoria, Carl Gustaf was born on 30 April 1946 at 10,20 in Haga Palace in Solna, Stockholm County. He was the youngest of five children and the son of Swedens Prince Gustaf Adolf. He was christened at the Royal Chapel on 7 June 1946 by the Archbishop of Uppsala and he was baptized in Charles XIs baptismal font, which stood on Gustav IIIs carpet and he lay in Charles XIs cradle with Oscar IIs crown beside him. The same christening gown in white linen batiste which the prince carried had been worn by his father in 1906, Prince Carl Gustaf was also given the title of the Duke of Jämtland. His father, Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, was killed in a crash on 26 January 1947. His fathers death had left the prince second in line for the throne, behind his grandfather. When his great-grandfather Gustaf V died in 1950, the prince became the heir apparent of Sweden. Carl Gustaf was seven years old before he was told about his fathers death, after graduating from high school, Carl Gustaf completed two and a half years of education in the Royal Swedish Army, the Royal Swedish Navy, and the Royal Swedish Air Force. He received his commission as an officer in all three services in 1968, and he rose to the rank of captain and lieutenant. He has also completed his studies in history, sociology, political science, tax law. In addition, he studied the affairs of the Riksdag, Government. On 15 September 1973, Carl Gustaf became King of Sweden upon the death of his grandfather, on September 19, he took the required regal assurance during an extraordinary meeting of the cabinet. Afterwards, he appeared before the parliament, diplomatic corps, court, both the cabinet meeting and ceremony at the Hall were broadcast live on television. Following the ceremonies, he appeared on the balcony to acknowledge gathered crowds, at the cabinet meeting, the King declared that his name would be Carl XVI Gustaf and that his title would be King of Sweden. He adopted, For Sweden – With the times as his personal motto, when Carl Gustaf ascended the throne, plans were already in place to replace the 1809 Instrument of Government which gave the King extensive involvement with government. Though the King was a near-autocrat on paper, the Riksdags authority grew steadily into the early 20th century, in 1914, Gustaf V made a speech which resulted in what is known as the Courtyard Crisis wherein he was accused of interfering with politics

3.
Heir apparent
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An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. An heir presumptive, by contrast, is someone who is first in line to inherit a title, today these terms most commonly describe heirs to hereditary titles, particularly monarchies. They are also used metaphorically to indicate an anointed successor to any position of power, in France the title was le Dauphin. See crown prince for more examples and this article primarily describes the term heir apparent in a hereditary system regulated by laws of primogeniture—as opposed to cases where a monarch has a say in naming the heir. An heir presumptive, by contrast, can always be bumped down in the succession by the birth of more closely related in a legal sense to the current title-holder. The clearest example occurs in the case of a title-holder with no children, if at any time he or she were to produce children, they rank ahead of whatever more distant relative had been heir presumptive. Many legal systems assume childbirth is always possible regardless of age or health, in such circumstances a person may be, in a practical sense, the heir apparent but still, legally speaking, heir presumptive. Adelaide was 44 at the time, so pregnancy was even if unlikely. Daughters may inherit titles that descend according to male-preference primogeniture, thus, normally, even an only daughter will not be heir apparent, since at any time a brother might be born who, though younger, would assume that position. Hence, she is an heir presumptive, for example, Queen Elizabeth II was heir presumptive during the reign of her father, King George VI, because at any stage up to his death, George could have fathered a legitimate son. In a system of absolute primogeniture that disregards gender, female heirs apparent occur, several European monarchies that have adopted such systems in the last few decades furnish practical examples. Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway is heir apparent to her father, Victoria was not heir apparent from birth, but gained the status in 1980 following a change in the Swedish Act of Succession. Her younger brother Carl Philip was thus heir apparent for a few months, then, as the representative of her fathers line she would assume a place ahead of any more distant relatives. Such a situation has not to date occurred with the English or British throne, several times an heir apparent has died, however, there have been several female heirs apparent to British peerages. In one special case, however, England and Scotland had an heir apparent. William, by contrast, was to reign for life only, thus, although after Marys death William continued to reign, he had no power to beget direct heirs, and Anne became the heir apparent for the remainder of Williams reign. She eventually succeeded him as Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, the position of an heir apparent is normally unshakable, it can be assumed they will inherit. Sometimes, however, extraordinary events—such as the death or the deposition of the parent—intervene

4.
Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden
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Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Västergötland, is the eldest child and heir apparent of King Carl XVI Gustaf. If she ascends to the throne as expected, she will be Swedens fourth queen regnant and the first since 1720. Victoria was born on 14 July 1977 at 21,45 CET at the Karolinska University Hospital in Solna, Stockholm County, Sweden and she is a member of the Royal House of Bernadotte. Born as a Princess of Sweden, she was designated Crown Princess in 1979 ahead of her younger brother and her place as first in the line of succession formally went into effect on 1 January 1980 with the parliamentary change to the Act of Succession that introduced absolute primogeniture. Her given names honour various relatives and she was christened at The Royal Palace Church on 27 September 1977. Her godparents were Crown Prince Harald of Norway, her uncle, Ralf Sommerlath, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands. The Crown Princess was confirmed in the summer of 1992 at Räpplinge church on the island of Öland. Victoria studied for a year at the Université Catholique de lOuest at Angers in France, from 1998 to 2000, Victoria resided in the United States, where she studied various subjects at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. In May 1999, she was an intern at the Swedish Embassy in Washington, Victoria completed a study program at the Government Offices in 2001. In 2003, Victorias education continued with visits to Swedish businesses, in 2006, Victoria enrolled in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs Diplomat Program, running from September 2006 to June 2007. The program is a program for young future diplomats and gives an insight to the ministrys work, Swedish foreign and security policies. In June 2009, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Uppsala University and she speaks Swedish, English, French and German. She was made Crown Princess and heir apparent on 1 January 1980 by the 1979 change to the Act of Succession of 1810 and this constitutional reform meant that the throne would be inherited by the monarchs eldest child without regard to gender. King Carl XVI Gustaf objected to the reform after it occurred because he favoured tradition, when she became heir, she also was made titular Duchess of Västergötland, one of the historical provinces of Sweden. Prior to this change, the heir apparent to the throne was her younger brother. He is now fourth in line to the throne, behind the Crown Princesss daughter and she is one of only three female heirs apparent in the world – the other two being her goddaughter Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange, and Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant. Victorias declaration of majority took place in the Hall of State at the Royal Palace of Stockholm on 14 July 1995, as of the day she turned 18, she became eligible to act as Head of State when the King is not in country. Victoria made her first public speech on this occasion, located on the dais in the background was the same silver throne on which her father was seated at his enthronement, in actual use from 1650 and up until this ceremony

5.
Eric the Victorious
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Eric the Victorious was the first Swedish king about whom anything definite is known. The list of monarchs after him is also complicated, which makes the assignment of any numeral problematic and his original territory lay in Uppland and neighbouring provinces. He acquired the name victorious because he defeated an invasion from the south in the Battle of Fýrisvellir located close to Uppsala, reports that Erics brother Olof was the father of his opponent in that battle, Styrbjörn the Strong, belong to the realm of myth. The extent of his kingdom is unknown, in addition to the Swedish heartland round lake Mälaren it may have extended down the Baltic Sea coast as far south as Blekinge. According to Adam of Bremen, he also briefly controlled Denmark after the defeat of Sweyn Forkbeard and he was probably responsible for the introduction of a system of universal conscription known as the ledung in the provinces around Mälaren. In all probability he founded the town of Sigtuna, which still exists, Eric the Victorious appears in a number of Norse sagas, the historical tales which nonetheless likely have a dose of fiction. In various stories, he is described as the son of Björn Eriksson, one saga describes his marriage to an infamous Sigrid the Haughty, daughter of the legendary Viking Skagul Toste, and how later on their divorce he gave her Götaland as a fief. According to Eymunds saga he took a new queen, Auð, the daughter of Haakon Sigurdsson, the ruler of Norway. Before this happened, his brother Olof died, and a new co-ruler had to be appointed, Eric granted Styrbjörn 60 longships in which he sailed away to live out a seafaring existence as a Viking. He would become the ruler of Jomsborg and an ally of the Danish king Harold Bluetooth whose sister he wed, Styrbjörn returned to Sweden with an army, although Harald and the Danish troops supposedly turned back. Eric won the Battle of Fýrisvellir, according to Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa after sacrificing to Odin and promising that if victorious, two scaldic verses composed by Thorvaldr Hjaltason are said to describe the battle. The Hällestad and Sjörup rune stones from Skåne, then a part of Denmark, do mention a battle at Uppsala characterized by the defeat and these stones have traditionally been associated with the battle, but present chronological problems and may actually date from the 11th century. The German ecclesiastic chronicler Adam of Bremen provides by far the oldest narrative about Eric that differs substantially from the sagas, as his spokesman he refers to the current Danish king Sven Estridson whom he interviewed for his chronicle. Adam omits the Battle of Fýrisvellir but relates that Eric gathered an army and invaded Denmark. The immediate reason for the attack is not disclosed by Adam, however, it had to do with an alliance between Eric and the very powerful king of the Polans, Boleslaw. He gave his sister or daughter in marriage to Eric and this princess has been identified as Gunhild of Wenden, who is mentioned in certain Nordic sources as the daughter of a king Burislev. According to another opinion, she is the known in the later sagas as Sigrid the Haughty. Erics invasion of Denmark was successful, several battles were fought at sea, with the result that the Danish forces, attacked from the east by the Slavs, were entirely annihilated

6.
Consolidation of Sweden
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The consolidation of Sweden was a long process during which the loosely organized social system consolidated under the power of the king. The actual age of the Swedish kingdom is unknown, also, for various reasons, scholars differ in characterizing early Sweden as a country, state or kingdom by definition. Unlike the history of Norway and Denmark, there is no agreement on a date for a unified Sweden. Historians judge differently the sources for the history of Swedens consolidation, the earliest history blends with Norse mythology. Early primary sources are foreign, secondary sources were written at a later date and this would imply that a Swedish/Suionic kingdom would have existed in the 1st to second centuries AD. Modern historians noted that a millennium had passed between Tacitus and more in-depth and reliable documented accounts of Swedish history, a common definition of Sweden is that it was formed when the Swedes and Geats were ruled by one king. The names Swedes and Geats are attested in the Old English poems Beowulf and Widsith and building on older legendary, in both poems, an Ongentheow is named as the King of the Swedes, and the Geats are mentioned as a separate people. These names of peoples having formed in present-day Sweden, the Anglo-Saxon references, the first time the two peoples are documented to have had a common ruler is during the reign of Olof Skötkonung about AD1000. Rather than the unification of tribes under one king, others maintain that the process of consolidation was gradual, nineteenth-century scholars saw the unification as a result of a series of wars based on evidence from the Norse sagas. The same connection between Christianity and consolidation is used in countries where written sources are less scarce, such as England or Harald Bluetooths Denmark. The definition is based on the fact that English and German priests would have brought organizational, the process of consolidation would have required this important ideological shift. While an Iron Age Germanic king would claim the elective support of his people, and the Norse gods, a crowned Christian king would claim that his rule was divinely inspired. According to this definition the unification should be completed in 1210 when Erik Knutsson was crowned by the church, there may have existed local kings in Western Sweden, even though their names have not been preserved. Gustaf Vasa determinedly strengthened the power and mightily increased the authority and resources of the crown. The current borders of Sweden were not settled until 1809 with the loss of Finland to Russia in the Finnish War, Sweden proper History of Scandinavia Early Swedish history Götaland theory Maja Hagerman. Spåren av kungens män, om när Sverige blev ett kristet rike i skiftet mellan vikingatid och medeltid, stig Hadenius, Torbjörn Nilsson, Gunnar Åselius. Sveriges historia, vad varje svensk bör veta

7.
Stockholm Palace
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Stockholm Palace or The Royal Palace is the official residence and major royal palace of the Swedish monarch. Stockholm Palace is located on Stadsholmen, in Gamla stan in the capital, the offices of the King, the other members of the Swedish Royal Family, and the offices of the Royal Court of Sweden are located here. The palace is used for representative purposes by the King whilst performing his duties as the head of state. This royal residence has been in the location by Norrström in the northern part of the Gamla stan in Stockholm since the middle of the 13th century when the Tre Kronor Castle was built. In modern times the name relates to the building called Kungliga Slottet, the palace was designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger and erected on the same place as the medieval Tre Kronor Castle which was destroyed in a fire on 7 May 1697. Due to the costly Great Northern War which started in 1700, construction of the palace was halted in 1709, when Tessin the Younger died in 1728, the palace was completed by Carl Hårleman who also designed a large part of its Rococo interior. The palace was not ready to use until 1754, when King Adolf Frederick and Queen Louisa Ulrika moved in, as of 2009 the interior of the palace consists of 1,430 rooms of which 660 have windows. The palace contains apartments for the Royal families, representation and festivities such as the State Apartments, the Guest Apartments, the National Library of Sweden was housed in the northeast wing, the Biblioteksflygeln, until 1878. As of 2014 it houses the Bernadotte Library, the Slottsarkivet is housed in the Chancery Wing. In the palace are the offices of the Royal Court of Sweden, the Royal Guards has guarded the palace and the Royal Family since 1523. A comprehensive renovation of the began in 2011, to repair weather damaged parts made from sandstone. The repairs are estimated to cost approx,500 million crowns during a period of 22 years. The first building on site was a fortress with a core tower built in the 13th century by Birger Jarl to defend Lake Mälaren. The fortress grew to a castle, eventually named Tre Kronor for the towers spire top decorated with three crowns. At the beginning of the 17th century, King Gustavus Adolphus made plans for a new royal palace, contemporaneous copperplates from 1654 shows de la Vallée’s idea of a more visible castle on a raised plateau with a connecting bridge over the Norrström. Queen Christina remodelled and embellished the castle extensively, but no new castle was built during her reign. In 1661, he presented the first draft for a conversion of the row which his son, Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, would later rework. A map of the Stadsholmen from the 1650s, illustrates de la Vallées suggestion for the conversion of the old castle, the project also brought about an adjustment of the Slottsbacken, making it partially enclosed by buildings

8.
Drottningholm Palace
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The Drottningholm Palace is the private residence of the Swedish royal family. Built on the island Lovön, it is one of Swedens Royal Palaces and it was originally built in the late 16th century. It served as a summer residence of the Swedish royal court for most of the 18th century. Apart from being the residence of the Swedish royal family. The name Drottningholm came from the original building designed by Willem Boy. This palace was preceded by a mansion called Torvesund. The Queen Dowager Regent Hedwig Eleonora bought the castle in 1661, a year after her role as Queen of Sweden ended, Hedwig Eleonora engaged the architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder to design and rebuild the castle. In 1662, work began on the reconstruction of the building, with the castle almost complete, Nicodemus died in 1681. His son Nicodemus Tessin the Younger continued his work and completed the interior designs. During the period of the reconstruction, Hedwig Eleonora was head of the protectorate for the still-underage King, Charles XI of Sweden, Sweden had grown to be a powerful country after the Peace of Westphalia. The position of the queen, essentially the ruler of Sweden, during the reign of the kings Charles XI of Sweden and Charles XII of Sweden, the royal court was often present at the palace, which was used for hunting. Hedwig Eleonora used the palace as a residence until her death in 1715. Drottningholm continued to regularly as a summer residence for the royal court during the entire 18th-century. After the death of Hedwig Eleonora in 1715, Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden, during Louisa Ulrikas ownership of Drottningholm the interior of the palace was transformed in a more sophisticated French rococo style. Louisa Ulrika was also responsible for having the Drottningholm Palace Theatre rebuilt in a grand style after the more modest original building burnt down in 1762, Louisa Ulrika and Adolf Fredrick continued to reside at the palace during their reign. In 1777, Louisa Ulrika sold Drottningholm to the Swedish state, during the reign of Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden and Charles XIII of Sweden the palace was gradually used more sporadically. After the Coup of 1809, the deposed Gustav IV Adolf was kept here under guard in the Chinese Drawing Room for eleven days, during the reign of Charles XIV John of Sweden, the palace was abandoned. The King regarded it as a symbol of the old dynasty, the buildings were damaged by the forces of nature, and their inventories were either taken away or auctioned off

9.
Monarch
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A monarch is the sovereign head of state in a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power in the state, alternatively, an individual may become monarch by conquest, acclamation or a combination of means. A monarch usually reigns for life or until abdication, if a young child is crowned the monarch, a regent is often appointed to govern until the monarch reaches the requisite adult age to rule. A monarch can reign in multiple monarchies simultaneously, for example, the monarchy of Canada and the monarchy of the United Kingdom are separate states, but they share the same monarch through personal union. Monarchs, as such, bear a variety of titles — king or queen, prince or princess, emperor or empress, archduke, duke or grand duke, Prince is sometimes used as a generic term to refer to any monarch regardless of title, especially in older texts. A king can also be a husband and a queen can be a kings wife. If both people in a reign, neither person is generally considered to be a consort. Monarchy is political or sociocultural in nature, and is associated with hereditary rule. Most monarchs, both historically and in the present day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, agnatic seniority, Salic law, etc. In an elective monarchy, the monarch is elected but otherwise serves as any other monarch, historical examples of elective monarchy include the Holy Roman Emperors and the free election of kings of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In recent centuries, many states have abolished the monarchy and become republics, advocacy of government by a republic is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchy is called monarchism. A principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of national leadership. In cases where the monarch serves mostly as a ceremonial figure real leadership does not depend on the monarch, a form of government may in fact be hereditary without being considered monarchy, such as a family dictatorship. Monarchies take a variety of forms, such as the two co-princes of Andorra, positions held simultaneously by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Urgel and the elected President of France. Similarly, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia is considered a monarch despite only holding the position for five years at a time, hereditary succession within one patrilineal family has been most common, with preference for children over siblings, sons over daughters. Other European realms practice one form or another of primogeniture, whereunder a lord was succeeded by his eldest son or, if he had none, by his brother, the system of tanistry was semi-elective and gave weight also to ability and merit. The Salic law, practiced in France and in the Italian territories of the House of Savoy, in most fiefs, in the event of the demise of all legitimate male members of the patrilineage, a female of the family could succeed. Spain today continues this model of succession law, in the form of cognatic primogeniture, in more complex medieval cases, the sometimes conflicting principles of proximity and primogeniture battled, and outcomes were often idiosyncratic

10.
Head of state
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A head of state is the public persona that officially represents the national unity and legitimacy of a sovereign state. In some countries, the head of state is a figurehead with limited or no executive power, while in others. Former French president Charles de Gaulle, while developing the current Constitution of France, some academic writers discuss states and governments in terms of models. An independent nation state normally has a head of state, the non-executive model, in which the head of state has either none or very limited executive powers, and mainly has a ceremonial and symbolic role. In parliamentary systems the head of state may be merely the chief executive officer, heading the executive branch of the state. This accountability and legitimacy requires that someone be chosen who has a majority support in the legislature and it also gives the legislature the right to vote down the head of government and their cabinet, forcing it either to resign or seek a parliamentary dissolution. In parliamentary constitutional monarchies, the legitimacy of the head of state typically derives from the tacit approval of the people via the elected representatives. In reality, numerous variants exist to the position of a head of state within a parliamentary system, usually, the king had the power of declaring war without previous consent of the parliament. For example, under the 1848 constitution of the Kingdom of Italy, the Statuto Albertino—the parliamentary approval to the government appointed by the king—was customary, so, Italy had a de facto parliamentarian system, but a de jure presidential system. These officials are excluded completely from the executive, they do not possess even theoretical executive powers or any role, even formal, hence their states governments are not referred to by the traditional parliamentary model head of state styles of His/Her Majestys Government or His/Her Excellencys Government. Within this general category, variants in terms of powers and functions may exist, the constitution explicitly vests all executive power in the Cabinet, who is chaired by the prime minister and responsible to the Diet. The emperor is defined in the constitution as the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people and he is a ceremonial figurehead with no independent discretionary powers related to the governance of Japan. Today, the Speaker of the Riksdag appoints the prime minister, Cabinet members are appointed and dismissed at the sole discretion of the prime minister. In contrast, the contact the President of Ireland has with the Irish government is through a formal briefing session given by the taoiseach to the president. However, he or she has no access to documentation and all access to ministers goes through the Department of the Taoiseach. The president does, however, hold limited reserve powers, such as referring a bill to the court to test its constitutionality. The most extreme non-executive republican Head of State is the President of Israel, semi-presidential systems combine features of presidential and parliamentary systems, notably a requirement that the government be answerable to both the president and the legislature. The constitution of the Fifth French Republic provides for a minister who is chosen by the president

11.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe

12.
Constitutional monarchy
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A constitutional monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the sovereign exercises their authorities in accordance with a written or unwritten constitution. A constitutional monarchy may refer to a system in which the acts as a non-party political head of state under the constitution. Political scientist Vernon Bogdanor, paraphrasing Thomas Macaulay, has defined a constitutional monarch as a sovereign who reigns, in addition to acting as a visible symbol of national unity, a constitutional monarch may hold formal powers such as dissolving parliament or giving royal assent to legislation. Many constitutional monarchies still retain significant authorities or political influence however, such as through certain reserve powers, the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms are all constitutional monarchies in the Westminster tradition of constitutional governance. Three states – Malaysia, Cambodia and the Holy See – are elective monarchies, the oldest constitutional monarchy dating back to ancient times was that of the Hittites. These were scattered noble families that worked as representatives of their subjects in an adjutant or subaltern federal-type landscape, the most recent country to move from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy was Bhutan, between 2007 and 2008. At the same time, in Scotland the Convention of Estates enacted the Claim of Right Act 1689, although Queen Anne was the last monarch to veto an Act of Parliament when in 1707 she blocked the Scottish Militia Bill, Hanoverian monarchs continued to selectively dictate government policies. For instance George III constantly blocked Catholic Emancipation, eventually precipitating the resignation of William Pitt the Younger as Prime Minister in 1801, Queen Victoria was the last monarch to exercise real personal power but this diminished over the course of her reign. In 1839 she became the last sovereign to keep a Prime Minister in power against the will of Parliament when the Bedchamber crisis resulted in the retention of Lord Melbournes administration, today, the role of the British monarch is by convention effectively ceremonial. No person may accept significant public office without swearing an oath of allegiance to the Queen, with few exceptions, the monarch is bound by constitutional convention to act on the advice of the Government. Constitutional monarchy also occurred briefly in the years of the French Revolution. As originally conceived, a monarch was head of the executive branch and quite a powerful figure even though his or her power was limited by the constitution. In many cases the monarchs, while still at the top of the political and social hierarchy, were given the status of servants of the people to reflect the new. In the course of Frances July Monarchy, Louis-Philippe I was styled King of the French rather than King of France, following the Unification of Germany, Otto von Bismarck rejected the British model. However this model of constitutional monarchy was discredited and abolished following Germanys defeat in the First World War. Later, Fascist Italy could also be considered as a constitutional monarchy and this eventually discredited the Italian monarchy and led to its abolition in 1946. After the Second World War, surviving European monarchies almost invariably adopted some variant of the constitutional monarchy model originally developed in Britain, nowadays a parliamentary democracy that is a constitutional monarchy is considered to differ from one that is a republic only in detail rather than in substance. However, three important factors distinguish monarchies such as the United Kingdom from systems where greater power might otherwise rest with Parliament, other privileges may be nominal or ceremonial

13.
Parliamentary system
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In a parliamentary system, the head of state is usually a different person from the head of government. Since ancient times, when societies were tribal, there were councils or a headman whose decisions were assessed by village elders, eventually these councils have slowly evolved into the modern Parliamentary system. The first parliaments date back to Europe in the Middle Ages, for example in 1188 Alfonso IX, the modern concept of parliamentary government emerged in the Kingdom of Great Britain and its contemporary, the Parliamentary System in Sweden. In England, Simon de Montfort is remembered as one of the fathers of representative government for holding two famous parliaments, the first, in 1258, stripped the King of unlimited authority and the second, in 1265, included ordinary citizens from the towns. Later, in the 17th century, the Parliament of England pioneered some of the ideas and systems of liberal democracy culminating in the Glorious Revolution, in the Kingdom of Great Britain, the monarch, in theory, chaired cabinet and chose ministers. In practice, King George Is inability to speak English led the responsibility for chairing cabinet to go to the minister, literally the prime or first minister. By the nineteenth century, the Great Reform Act of 1832 led to parliamentary dominance, with its choice invariably deciding who was prime minister, hence the use of phrases like Her Majestys government or His Excellencys government. Nineteenth century urbanisation, industrial revolution and, modernism had already fueled the political struggle for democracy. In the radicalised times at the end of World War I, a parliamentary system may be either bicameral, with two chambers of parliament or unicameral, with just one parliamentary chamber. Scholars of democracy such as Arend Lijphart distinguish two types of parliamentary democracies, the Westminster and Consensus systems, the Westminster system is usually found in the Commonwealth of Nations and countries which were influenced by the British political tradition. These parliaments tend to have a more style of debate. The Australian House of Representatives is elected using instant-runoff voting, while the Senate is elected using proportional representation through single transferable vote, regardless of which system is used, the voting systems tend to allow the voter to vote for a named candidate rather than a closed list. The Western European parliamentary model tends to have a more consensual debating system, Consensus systems have more of a tendency to use proportional representation with open party lists than the Westminster Model legislatures. The committees of these Parliaments tend to be more important than the plenary chamber, some West European countries parliaments implement the principle of dualism as a form of separation of powers. In countries using this system, Members of Parliament have to resign their place in Parliament upon being appointed minister, ministers in those countries usually actively participate in parliamentary debates, but are not entitled to vote. Some countries such as India also require the prime minister to be a member of the legislature, the head of state appoints a prime minister who will likely have majority support in parliament. The head of state appoints a minister who must gain a vote of confidence within a set time. The head of state appoints the leader of the party holding a plurality of seats in parliament as prime minister

14.
Swedish language
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Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken natively by more than 9 million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, where it has equal legal standing with Finnish. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish, along with the other North Germanic languages, Swedish is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. It is currently the largest of the North Germanic languages by number of speakers, Standard Swedish, spoken by most Swedes, is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties descended from the rural dialects still exist. The standard word order is, as in most Germanic languages, V2, Swedish morphology is similar to English, that is, words have comparatively few inflections. There are two genders, no cases, and a distinction between plural and singular. Older analyses posit the cases nominative and genitive and there are remains of distinct accusative and dative forms as well. Adjectives are compared as in English, and are inflected according to gender, number. The definiteness of nouns is marked primarily through suffixes, complemented with separate definite and indefinite articles, the prosody features both stress and in most dialects tonal qualities. The language has a large vowel inventory. Swedish is also notable for the voiceless velar fricative, a highly variable consonant phoneme. Swedish is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages, by many general criteria of mutual intelligibility, the Continental Scandinavian languages could very well be considered dialects of a common Scandinavian language. In the 8th century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse, had some changes. This language began to undergo new changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, the dialects of Old East Norse that were spoken in Sweden are called Runic Swedish while the dialects of Denmark are referred to as Runic Danish. The dialects are described as runic because the body of text appears in the runic alphabet. Unlike Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark alphabet, Old Norse was written with the Younger Futhark alphabet, from 1200 onwards, the dialects in Denmark began to diverge from those of Sweden. An early change that separated Runic Danish from the dialects of Old East Norse was the change of the diphthong æi to the monophthong é. This is reflected in runic inscriptions where the older read stain, there was also a change of au as in dauðr into a long open ø as in døðr dead

15.
Monarchy
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The actual power of the monarch may vary from purely symbolic, to partial and restricted, to completely autocratic. Traditionally and in most cases, the monarchs post is inherited and lasts until death or abdication, occasionally this might create a situation of rival claimants whose legitimacy is subject to effective election. Finally, there have been cases where the term of a reign is either fixed in years or continues until certain goals are achieved. Thus there are widely divergent structures and traditions defining monarchy, Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer prevalent. Currently,47 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of state,19 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia reign, the word monarch comes from the Greek language word μονάρχης, monárkhēs which referred to a single, at least nominally absolute ruler. In current usage the word usually refers to a traditional system of hereditary rule. Depending on the held by the monarch, a monarchy may be known as a kingdom, principality, duchy, grand duchy, empire, tsardom, emirate, sultanate, khaganate. The form of societal hierarchy known as chiefdom or tribal kingship is prehistoric, the Greek term monarchia is classical, used by Herodotus. The monarch in classical antiquity is often identified as king, the Chinese, Japanese and Nepalese monarchs continued to be considered living Gods into the modern period. Since antiquity, monarchy has contrasted with forms of democracy, where power is wielded by assemblies of free citizens. In antiquity, monarchies were abolished in favour of such assemblies in Rome, much of 19th century politics was characterised by the division between anti-monarchist Radicalism and monarchist Conservativism. Many countries abolished the monarchy in the 20th century and became republics, advocacy of republics is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchies is called monarchism. In the modern era, monarchies are more prevalent in small states than in large ones, most monarchs, both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, the centre of the royal household and court. Growing up in a family, future monarchs are often trained for the responsibilities of expected future rule. Different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, and agnatic seniority. While most monarchs have been male, many female monarchs also have reigned in history, rule may be hereditary in practice without being considered a monarchy, such as that of family dictatorships or political families in many democracies. The principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of leadership

16.
Elective monarchy
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An elective monarchy is a monarchy ruled by an elected monarch, in contrast to a hereditary monarchy in which the office is automatically passed down as a family inheritance. The manner of election, the nature of candidate qualifications, historically it is not uncommon for elective monarchies to transform into hereditary ones over time, or for hereditary ones to acquire at least occasional elective aspects. Many, if not most, kingdoms were officially elective historically, the kings of Macedon and of Epirus were elected by the army, which was similar in composition to the ecclesia of democracies, the council of all free citizens. Military service often was linked with citizenship among the members of the royal house. In the ancient Kingdom of Rome, the kings were elected by the Assemblies, therefore, the office of Roman and Byzantine emperor remained vaguely elective and heredity never was, and could never be, formally established in law. The Holy Roman Empire is perhaps the best-known example of an elective monarchy, however, from 1453 to 1740, a Habsburg was always elected emperor, the throne becoming unofficially hereditary. During that period, the emperor was elected from within the House of Habsburg by a council of nobles called prince-electors. The secular electoral seats were hereditary, however, spiritual electors were usually elected by the cathedral chapters as religious leaders, but simultaneously ruled as monarch of a territory of imperial immediacy. Thus the prince-bishoprics were elective monarchies too, the same holds true for prince-abbeys, whose prince-abbesses or prince-abbots were elected by a college of clerics and imperially appointed as princely rulers in a pertaining territory. In the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, the kingship was partially elected, during the height of the kingdom in the mid-12th century there was a royal family and a relatively clear line of succession. Nevertheless, the king was elected, or at least recognized, here the king was considered a primus inter pares, and in his absence his duties were performed by his seneschal. Originally, the Kings of Sweden were elected by all men at the Mora Thing. Elective monarchy continued until 1544, when the Riksdag of the Estates designated the heirs of King Gustav Vasa as the heirs to the throne, the Danish monarchy was also officially elective, although the eldest son of the reigning monarch was usually elected. This continued until 1660, when a hereditary and absolute monarchy was instituted by Frederick III, though the monarchy of Norway was originally hereditary, it too became elective in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Candidates had to be of royal blood, but the kingship was elected by a council of noblemen, in 1905 Prince Carl was elected King of Norway, after the male population in an election decided Norway should still be a monarchy. Bernadotte eventually ascended the throne as Charles XIV John of Sweden, in Poland, after the death of the last Piast in 1370, Polish kings were initially elected by a small council, gradually, this privilege was granted to all members of the szlachta. During the election period, the function of the king was performed by an interrex and this unique Polish election was termed the free election. Since medieval times, the King of Bohemia was elected by the Estates of Lands of the Bohemian Crown, since 1526, when the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I assumed the Bohemian Crown, it was always held by the Habsburgs, who expected this situation to go on indefinitely

17.
Gustav I of Sweden
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Initially of low standing, Gustav rose to lead the rebel movement following the Stockholm Bloodbath, in which his father perished. As King, Gustav proved an administrator with a ruthless streak not inferior to his predecessors. He worked to raise taxes, end Feudalism and bring about a Swedish Reformation, replacing the prerogatives of local landowners, noblemen and clergy with centrally appointed governors and bishops. Due to a vibrant dynastic succession, his three sons, Erik, Johan and Karl IX, all held the kingship at different points, Gustav I has subsequently been labelled the founder of modern Sweden, and the father of the nation. Gustav liked to compare himself to Moses, whom he believed to have liberated his people. As a person, Gustav was known for ruthless methods and a bad temper and he founded one of the now oldest orchestras of the world, the Kungliga Hovkapellet. Royal housekeeping accounts from 1526 mention twelve musicians including wind players, today the Kungliga Hovkapellet is the orchestra of the Royal Swedish Opera. Gustav Eriksson, a son of Cecilia Månsdotter Eka and Erik Johansson Vasa, was born in 1496. The birth most likely place in Rydboholm Castle, northeast of Stockholm. The newborn got his name, Gustav, from Eriks grandfather Gustav Anundsson, Erik Johanssons parents were Johan Kristersson and Birgitta Gustafsdotter of the dynasties Vasa and Sture respectively, both dynasties of high nobility. Birgitta Gustafsdotter was the sister of Sten Sture the Elder, regent of Sweden, being a relative and ally of uncle Sten Sture, Erik inherited the regents estates in Uppland and Södermanland when the latter died in 1503. Although a member of a family with considerable properties since childhood, according to genealogical research, Birgitta Gustafsdotter and Sten Sture were descended from King Sverker II of Sweden, through King Sverkers granddaughter Benedikte Sunesdotter. One of King Gustavs great-grandmothers was a half-sister of King Charles VIII of Sweden, since the end of the 14th century, Sweden had been a part of the Kalmar Union with Denmark and Norway. The Danish dominance in this union led to uprisings in Sweden. During Gustavs childhood, parts of the Swedish nobility tried to make Sweden independent, Gustav and his father Erik supported the party of Sten Sture the Younger, regent of Sweden from 1512, and its struggle against the Danish King Christian II. Following the battle of Brännkyrka in 1518, where Sten Stures troops beat the Danish forces, it was decided that Sten Sture and King Christian would meet in Österhaninge for negotiations. To guarantee the safety of the king, the Swedish side sent six men as hostages to be kept by the Danes for as long as the negotiations lasted. However, Christian did not show up for the negotiations, violated the deal with the Swedish side, the six members of the kidnapped hostage were Hemming Gadh, Lars Siggesson, Jöran Siggesson, Olof Ryning, Bengt Nilsson – and Gustav Eriksson

18.
Representative democracy
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Representative democracy is a type of democracy founded on the principle of elected officials representing a group of people, as opposed to direct democracy. Representative democracy is often presented as the most efficient form of democracy possible in mass societies and it arguably allows for efficient ruling by a sufficiently small number of people on behalf of the larger number. Government efficiency can be judged based on metric of cost effectiveness, representatives voting on behalf of the people allows for a monetary benefit as there is lessened use of polling stations, vote counters, etc. The government is responsible for paying for the wages of the representatives. This system of governance is also time efficient as decisions can be made by a select few and it is a system in which people elect their lawmakers, who are then held accountable to them for their activity within government. It has been described by political theorists including Robert A Dahl, Gregory Houston. In it the power is in the hands of the representatives who are elected by the people in elections. Representatives are elected by the public, as in elections for the national legislature. Elected representatives may hold the power to other representatives, presidents, or other officers of the government or of the legislature. The constitution may also provide for some deliberative democracy or direct popular measures, however, these are not always binding and usually require some legislative action—legal power usually remains firmly with representatives. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him, their opinion, high respect, their business, unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions, to theirs, and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own. But his unbiassed opinion, his judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man. These he does not derive from your pleasure, no, nor from the law and they are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his only, but his judgment. The Roman Republic was the first government in the world to have a representative government. In Britain, Simon de Montfort is remembered as one of the fathers of representative government for holding two famous parliaments, the first, in 1258, stripped the King of unlimited authority and the second, in 1265, included ordinary citizens from the towns. Later, in the 17th century, the Parliament of England pioneered some of the ideas and systems of liberal democracy culminating in the Glorious Revolution, the American Revolution led to the creation of a new Constitution of the United States in 1787

19.
Basic Laws of Sweden
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The most important of the fundamental laws is the Instrument of Government. It sets out the principles for political life in Sweden defining rights. The Prime Minister appoints members of the Government, including heads of ministries, the government collectively decides on issues after hearing the report of the head of the ministry concerned. At least five members of the government need to be present for a quorum to be made. In practice, reports are written and discussions very rare during formal cabinet meetings and it stripped the Swedish monarch of almost all of their powers, leaving them perhaps second only to the Emperor of Japan and the President of Israel in their lack of constitutional authority. The King is to be briefed on governmental issues—in the Council of State or directly by the Prime Minister. The first constitutional Instrument of Government was enacted in 1719, marking the transition from autocracy to parliamentarism, swedens bloodless coup détat of 1772 was legitimized by the Riksdag of the Estates in new versions of the Instrument of Government, making the king a constitutional autocrat. In Sweden, the loss of half the realm led to another bloodless revolution, a new royal dynasty. The councillor had to countersign a royal decision, unless it was unconstitutional, the councillor was legally responsible for his advice and was obliged to note his dissension in case he did not agree with the kings decision. This constitution put a de jure power in the king. From 1917, the king adhered to principles of parliamentarism by choosing councillors possessing direct or indirect support from a majority of the Riksdag. In 2009, the Riksdag approved Proposition 2009/10,80, A Reformed Constitution, making amendments to the Instrument of Government. The amendment modernized and simplified the text in general, and strengthened several fundamental rights, protection against unfair discrimination was extended to include discrimination based on sexual orientation. It also strengthens judicial powers to make it easier to determine whether new laws contravene the constitution or the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and these amendments took effect on 1 January 2011. Accordingly, the current 1810 Act of Succession is a treaty between the old Riksdag of the Estates and the House of Bernadotte regulating the right to accede to the Swedish throne and this meant that the throne will be inherited by the eldest child without regard to sex. Thereby Princess Victoria, the eldest child of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, was created heiress apparent to the Swedish throne over her younger brother, the other two acts define the freedom of the press and other forms of expression. Publisher Lars Johan Hierta solved this by adding a different numeral to the name Aftonbladet, the right to revoke was finally abolished in 1844. The 1766 Act held for example that freedom of expression was to be uninhibited, except for violations and it also states that all public authorities must provide information promptly upon request

20.
Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden
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Gustaf VI Adolf was King of Sweden from 29 October 1950 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Gustaf V and his wife, Victoria of Baden, Gustaf VI Adolf was a lifelong amateur archeologist particularly interested in Ancient Italian cultures. He was born at the Royal Palace in Stockholm and at birth created Duke of Skåne, a patrilineal member of the Bernadotte family, he was also a descendant of the House of Vasa through maternal lines. Through his mother, Victoria, he was a descendant of Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden of the deposed House of Holstein-Gottorp, Gustaf Adolf became Crown Prince of Sweden on 8 December 1907, at the death of his grandfather, King Oscar II. In 1938 he was elected a member of the Virginia Society of the Cincinnati. On 29 October 1950, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf became king at age 67 upon the death of his father and he was at the time the worlds oldest heir apparent to a monarchy. His personal motto was Plikten framför allt, Duty before all, during Gustaf VI Adolfs reign, work was underway on a new Instrument of Government to replace the 1809 constitution and produce reforms consistent with the times. Among the reforms sought by some Swedes was the replacement of the monarchy or at least some moderation of the old constitutions provision that The King alone shall govern the realm. Gustaf VI Adolfs personal qualities made him popular among the Swedish people and, in turn, Gustaf VI Adolfs expertise and interest in a wide range of fields made him respected, as did his informal and modest nature and his purposeful avoidance of pomp. While the monarchy had been de facto subordinate to the Riksdag and ministers since 1917, even these nominal powers were removed when Swedens constitutional reform became complete in 1975, thus making Gustaf Adolf the last monarch to wield even nominal political power. He was succeeded on the throne by his 27-year-old grandson Carl XVI Gustaf and he died the day before the election of 1973, which is suggested to have swayed it in support of the incumbent Social Democratic government. In a break with tradition, he was not buried in Riddarholmskyrkan in Stockholm and he was the last surviving son of Gustaf V. The Kings reputation as a professional amateur professor was widely known, nationally and internationally, Gustaf VI Adolf was a devoted archaeologist, and was admitted to the British Academy for his work in botany in 1958. Gustaf VI Adolf participated in expeditions in China, Greece, Korea and Italy. Gustaf VI Adolf had a private library consisting of 80000 volumes. He had an interest in specialist literature on Chinese art and East Asian history, throughout his life, King Gustaf VI Adolf was particularly interested in the history of civilization, and he participated in several archaeological expeditions. His other great area of interest was botany, concentrating in flowers and he was considered an expert on the Rhododendron flower. At Sofiero Castle he created one of the very finest Rhododendron collections, like his son, Prince Bertil, Gustaf VI Adolf maintained wide, lifelong interests in sports

21.
History of Sweden
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During the 11th and 12th centuries, Sweden gradually became a unified Christian kingdom that later included what is today Finland. During the early Middle Ages, the Swedish state also expanded to control Norrland and Finland, Modern Sweden started out of the Kalmar Union formed in 1397 and by the unification of the country by King Gustav Vasa in the 16th century. Vasa fought for an independent Sweden and broke with the papacy, in the 17th century Sweden expanded its territories to form the Swedish empire. Most of these territories had to be given up during the 18th century. During the 17th century, after winning wars against Denmark, Russia, Swedens role in the Thirty Years War determined the political as well as the religious balance of power in Europe. The Russians won a war against Sweden in 1709, capturing much of the Swedish army, Sweden joined in the Enlightenment culture of the day in the arts, architecture, science and learning. Between 1570 and 1800 Sweden experienced two periods of urban expansion, Finland was lost to Russia in a war in 1808–1809. In the early 19th century Finland and the territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were lost. After its last war in 1814, Sweden entered into a union with Norway which lasted until 1905. Since 1814, Sweden has been at peace, adopting a foreign policy in peacetime. Sweden was neutral in World War I, post-war prosperity provided the foundations for the social welfare policies characteristic of modern Sweden. Sweden created a model of social democracy. Sweden remained neutral during World War II, avoiding the fate of occupied Norway, Sweden was one of the first non-participants of World War II to join the United Nations. Apart from this, the tried to stay out of alliances and remain officially neutral during the entire Cold War. The social democratic party held government for 44 years, the 1976 parliamentary elections brought a liberal/right-wing coalition to power. During the Cold War, Sweden was suspicious of the superpowers, with the end of the Cold War, that suspicion has lessened somewhat, although Sweden still chooses to remain nonaligned. The earliest images can, however, be found in the province of Jämtland and they depict wild animals such as elk, reindeer, bears and seals. The period 2300–500 BC was the most intensive carving period, with carvings of agriculture, warfare, ships, domesticated animals, also, petroglyphs with themes have been found in Bohuslän, these are dated from 800–500 BC

22.
Prehistoric Sweden
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The Pleistocene glaciations scoured the landscape clean and covered much of it in deep quaternary sediments. Therefore, no undisputed Early or Middle Palaeolithic sites or finds are known from Sweden, shortly before the close of the Younger Dryas, the west coast of Sweden was visited by hunter-gatherers from northern Germany. This cultural group is referred to as the Ahrensburgian and were engaged in fishing and sealing along the coast of western Sweden during seasonal rounds from the Continent. Currently, we refer to group as the Hensbacka culture and, in Norway. During the late Preboreal period, colonization continued as people move towards the north-east as the ice receded, archaeological, linguistic and genetic evidence suggests that they arrived first from the south-west and, in time, also from the north-east and met half-way. An important consequence of de-glaciation was a continual land uplift as the Earths crust rebounded from the pressure exerted by the ice and this process, which was originally very rapid, continues to this day. It has had the consequence that originally shore-bound sites along much of Swedens coast are sorted chronologically by elevation, around the countrys capital, for instance, the earliest seal-hunter sites are now on inland mountain tops, and they grow progressively later as one moves downhill toward the sea. The Late Palaeolithic gave way to the first phase of the Mesolithic in c.9600 BC and this age, divided into the Maglemosian, Kongemosian and Ertebølle Periods, was characterised by small bands of hunter-gatherer-fishers with a microlithic flint technology. Where flint was not readily available, quartz and slate were used, in the later Ertebølle, semi-permanent fishing settlements with pottery and large inhumation cemeteries appeared. Farming and animal husbandry, along with monumental burial, polished flint axes and decorated pottery, whether this happened by diffusion of knowledge or by mass migration or both is controversial. In a century or two, all of Denmark and the third of Sweden became neolithised and much of the area became dotted with megalithic tombs. Farmers were capable of rearing calves to collect milk from cows all year round, the people of the countrys northern two thirds retained an essentially Mesolithic lifestyle into the 1st Millennium BC. Coastal south-eastern Sweden, likewise, reverted from neolithisation to a hunting and fishing economy after only a few centuries, in c.2800 BC the Funnel Beaker Culture gave way to the Battle Axe Culture, a regional version of the middle-European Corded Ware phenomenon. Again, diffusion of knowledge or mass migration is disputed, the Battle Axe and Pitted Ware people then coexisted as distinct archaeological entities until c.2400 BC, when they merged into a fairly homogeneous Late Neolithic culture. This culture produced the finest flintwork in Scandinavian Prehistory and the last megalithic tombs, Swedens southern third was part of the stock-keeping and agricultural Nordic Bronze Age Cultures area, most of it being peripheral to the cultures Danish centre. The period began in c.1700 BC with the start of bronze importation, first from Ireland and then increasingly from central Europe. Copper mining was never tried locally during this period, and Scandinavia has no tin deposits, Iron production began locally toward the periods end, apparently as a kind of trade secret among bronze casters, iron was almost exclusively used for tools to make bronze objects. The Nordic Bronze Age was entirely pre-urban, with living in hamlets

23.
Viking Age
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The Viking Age is the period from the late 8th century to the mid-11th century in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, following the Germanic Iron Age. It is the period of history when Scandinavian Norsemen explored Europe by its seas and rivers for trade, raids, colonisation and conquest. Three Viking ships had beached in Weymouth Bay four years earlier, the Viking devastation of Northumbrias Holy Island was reported by the Northumbrian scholar Alcuin of York, who wrote, Never before in Britain has such a terror appeared. Vikings were portrayed as violent and bloodthirsty by their enemies. The chronicles of medieval England portrayed them as rapacious wolves among sheep, the first challenges to the many anti-Viking images in Britain emerged in the 17th century. Pioneering scholarly works on the Viking Age reached a readership in Britain. Archaeologists began to dig up Britains Viking past, linguistics traced the Viking-Age origins of rural idioms and proverbs. New dictionaries of the Old Norse language enabled more Victorians to read the Icelandic Sagas, the Vikings who invaded western and eastern Europe were chiefly pagans from Denmark, Norway and Sweden. They also settled in the Faroe Islands, Ireland, Iceland, peripheral Scotland, Greenland and their North Germanic language, Old Norse, became the mother-tongue of present-day Scandinavian languages. By 801, a central authority appears to have been established in Jutland. In Norway, mountainous terrain and fjords formed strong natural boundaries, communities there remained independent of each other, unlike the situation in Denmark which is lowland. By 800, some 30 small kingdoms existed in Norway, the sea was the easiest way of communication between the Norwegian kingdoms and the outside world. It was in the 8th century that Scandinavians began to build ships of war, the North Sea rovers were traders, colonisers and explorers as well as plunderers. There are various theories concerning the causes of the Viking invasions, for people living along the coast, it would seem natural to seek new land by the sea. Another reason was that during this period England, Wales and Ireland, the Franks, however, had well-defended coasts and heavily fortified ports and harbours. Pure thirst for adventure may also have been a factor, a reason for the raids is believed by some to be over-population caused by technological advances, such as the use of iron, or a shortage of women due to selective female infanticide. Although another cause could well have been caused by the Frankish expansion to the south of Scandinavia. Consequently, these Vikings became raiders, in search of subsistence, There is ongoing debate among scholars as to why the Scandinavians began to expand during the 8th through 11th centuries

24.
Kalmar Union
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The Union was not quite continuous, there were several short interruptions. Legally the countries remained separate sovereign states, but with their domestic, one main impetus for its formation was to block German expansion northward into the Baltic region. The main reason for its failure to survive was the struggle between the monarch, who wanted a strong unified state, and the Swedish and Danish nobility which did not. Diverging interests gave rise to a conflict that would hamper the union in several intervals from the 1430s until its breakup in 1523 when Gustav Vasa became king of Sweden. Norway continued to remain a part of the realm of Denmark–Norway under the Oldenburg dynasty for nearly three centuries until its dissolution in 1814. Then Union between Sweden and Norway lasted until 1905, when a grandson of the incumbent king of Denmark was elected its king, the union was the work of Scandinavian aristocracy wishing to counter the influence of the Hanseatic League. Margaret, a daughter of King Valdemar IV of Denmark, married King Haakon VI of Norway and Sweden, Margaret succeeded in having her son Olav recognized as heir to the throne of Denmark. In 1376 Olav inherited the crown of Denmark from his grandfather as King Oluf III, with his mother as guardian. The two kingdoms were united in a union under a child king, with the kings mother as his guardian, later. On 2 February the next year, she was recognized as regent of Norway. Their common enemy was the Hanseatic League and the growing German influence over the Scandinavian economy. The Nordic union was established on 17 June 1397 by the Treaty of Kalmar, signed in the Swedish castle of Kalmar on Swedens south-east coast, at each junction, installation of a new monarch tended to mean a break-up of the union for a while. Eric of Pomerania, however, became the monarch of all three kingdoms, at Kalmar, the 15-year-old Eric of Pomerania was crowned king of all three kingdoms by the archbishops of Denmark and Sweden, but Margaret managed to remain in control until her death in 1412. It is said that contemporaries of the Union would not recognize the term, Union of Kalmar—that they just understood that much of the time. While the term meaning Treaty of Kalmar was known already at the time, the Swedes were not happy with the Danes frequent wars on Schleswig, Holstein, Mecklenburg, and Pomerania, which were a disturbance to Swedish exports to the European continent. Furthermore, the centralization of government in Denmark raised suspicions, the Swedish Privy Council wanted to retain a fair degree of self-government. The unity of the union eroded after the Danish defeat against the German Hanseatic League in the 1430s, even to the point of armed rebellion, erik was deposed as the union king and was succeeded by his nephew, the childless Christopher of Bavaria. In the power vacuum that arose following Christophers death, Sweden elected Charles VIII king with the intent to reestablish the union under a Swedish king, during the next seven decades struggle for power and the wars between Sweden and Denmark would dominate the union

25.
Swedish Empire
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The Swedish Empire refers to the Kingdom of Swedens territorial control of much of the Baltic region during the 17th and early 18th centuries, a time when Sweden was one of the great European powers. The beginning of the Empire is usually taken as the reign of Gustavus Adolphus, who ascended the throne in 1611, in Swedish history, the period is referred to as stormaktstiden, literally meaning the Great Power era. The interests of the high nobility contrasted with the uniformity policy, in territories acquired during the periods of de facto noble rule, serfdom was not abolished, and there was also a trend to set up respective estates in Sweden proper. The Great Reduction of 1680 put an end to efforts of the nobility. However, in the course of this war as well as in the subsequent Scanian War, Sweden was able to maintain her empire only with support of her closest ally. Charles XI of Sweden consolidated the empire and ensured a period of peace, before Russia, Saxony and Denmark started an attack on his successor. Sweden emerged as a great European power under Axel Oxenstierna and King Gustavus Adolphus, during the Thirty Years War, Sweden managed to conquer approximately half of the member states of the Holy Roman Empire. After France had intervened on the side as Sweden, the fortunes would shift again. As the war continued, it turned more and more grim, although exact population estimates do not exist, historians estimate that as many as one-third of the people in the Holy Roman Empire may have died as a result of the war. At the same time, Sweden joined the other important northern European nations in founding overseas colonies, New Sweden was founded in the valley of the Delaware River in 1638, and Sweden later laid claim to a number of Caribbean islands. A string of Swedish forts and trading posts was constructed along the coast of West Africa as well, at the conclusion of the Thirty Years War, the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 granted Sweden territories as war reparations. Sweden demanded Silesia, Pomerania pay a sum of 200,000 Riksdaler out of the lands they would receive, or 2) surrender a fourth of the property itself. Against this, the over-taxed lower estates protested, and the Diet had to be suspended, the king intervened, not to quell the commons, as the senate insisted, but to compel the nobility to give way. He proposed a committee to investigate the matter before the meeting of the next Riksdag. Charles X Gustav had done his best to recover from the extravagance of Christina. However, his own desire for military glory may have caused problems for his country, in three days, he persuaded the Swedish estates of the potential of his attack on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, when he left Stockholm for Warsaw on July 10,1654, the Polish-Swedish War expanded into a general European war. He achieved passage over the Belts and emerged triumphant, only to die of sheer exhaustion, immediately after his death, a regency was appointed to govern Sweden during the minority of his only son and successor, Charles XI of Sweden, who was four years old

26.
Age of Liberty
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The shift of power from monarch to parliament was a direct effect of the Great Northern War, which was disastrous for Sweden. Suffrage under the government of the Age of Liberty was not universal. Although the taxed peasantry was represented in the Parliament, its influence was disproportionately small, at home the Reduction was cautiously pursued, while abroad the successful conclusion of the great peace congress at Ryswick was justly regarded as a signal triumph of Swedens peaceful diplomacy. From the very beginning of the Great Northern War, Sweden suffered from the inability of Charles XII to view the situation from anything and his great determination to avenge himself on enemies overpowered every other consideration. Again and again, during eighteen years of warfare, it was in his power to dictate a peace advantageous to Sweden. After initial setbacks, Charles, with the help of the combined English and Dutch fleet, defeated Fredrick IV, soon, Charles defeated the Russian forces at the Battle of Narva on 20 November 1700. But Charles, intent on dethroning the last member of the coalition against him, Augustus II of Poland, subsequently in 1701 he rejected a personal appeal from William III of England to conclude peace on his own terms. Moreover, two of Swedens Baltic provinces, Estonia and Ingria, had seized by the Tsar. Yet even now Charles, by a stroke of the pen, in 1707 Peter was ready to return everything except Saint Petersburg and the line of the Neva, and again Charles preferred risking the whole to saving the greater part of his Baltic possessions. When at last, after Charles catastrophic defeat in the Poltava in June 1709 and his flight into Turkey, he condescended to use methods, it was solely to prolong, not to terminate. Even now he could have made honorable terms with his numerous enemies, the resources of Sweden were still very far from being exhausted, and during 1710–1711 Magnus Stenbock, while Charles was still trapped at Bender, upheld her military supremacy in the north. But all the efforts of the Swedish government were wrecked by the determination of Charles XII to surrender nothing, at the beginning of 1719, peace overtures were made to Britain, Hanover, Prussia and Denmark. Northern Swedish Pomerania with Rügen which had come under Danish rule during the war, was retained by Sweden, negotiations were reopened with Russia at Nystad, in May 1720, but peace was not concluded till 30 August 1721 and then only under the direst pressure. By the Treaty of Nystad Sweden ceded to Russia Ingria and Estonia, Livonia, Finland west of Viborg and north of Käkisalmi was restored to Sweden. She also received an indemnity of two million Riksdaler and an undertaking of non-interference in her domestic affairs. All power was vested in the people as represented by the Riksdag, consisting, as before, of four estates, nobles, priests, burgesses. The conflicting interests of four independent assemblies, who sat and deliberated apart and with their mutual jealousies. No measure could now become law until it had obtained the assent of at least three of the four estates

27.
Gustavian era
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This is a History of Sweden from 1772 through 1809, more known as the Gustavian era of Kings Gustav III and Gustav IV, as well as the reign of King Charles XIII of Sweden. Adolf Frederick of Sweden died on February 12,1771, nothing could be done, however, till the return of the new king, Gustav III, from Paris. The new coronation oath contained three revolutionary clauses, The first aimed at making abdications in the impossible by binding the king to reign uninterruptedly. The third clause required him, in all cases of preferment, to be guided not principally as heretofore, all through 1771 the estates wrangled over the clauses. An attempt of the king to mediate foundered on the suspicions of the estate of burgesses, the non-noble Cap majority now proceeded to attack the Privy Council. The Riksrådet, the last stronghold of the Hats, and, on April 25 of that year and it was now, for the first time, that Gustav began to consider the possibility of a revolution. The new constitution of August 20,1772 which Gustav III imposed upon the Riksdag of the Estates, converted a weak and disunited republic into a strong, but these extensive powers were subjected to important checks. Thus, without the consent of the estates, no new law could be imposed, no old law abolished, no offensive war undertaken. The estates alone could tax themselves, they had the control of the Riksbank - the Bank of Sweden. In Sweden the change was most popular, but Gustavs first Riksdag, that of 1778, opened the eyes of the deputies to the fact that their political supremacy had departed. But it was not till after eight years more had elapsed that actual trouble began, the Riksdag of 1778 had been obsequious, the Riksdag of 1786 was mutinous. It rejected nearly all the royal measures outright, or so modified them that Gustav himself withdrew them, when he dismissed the estates, the speech from the throne held out no prospect of their speedy revocation. Nevertheless, within three years, the king was obliged to summon another Riksdag, which met at Stockholm on the January 26,1789 and his attempt in the interval to rule without a parliament had been disastrous. Abroad the Swedish revolution made a great sensation, unknown to party leaders, Gustav had renewed the Swedish alliance with France and had received solemn assurances of assistance from Louis XV if Gustav were to reestablish monarchical rule in Sweden. Moreover, France agreed to pay its outstanding subsidies to Sweden, amounting to 1.5 million livres annually, beginning from January 1772. Whats more, Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes, was to be sent to Stockholm to circumvent the designs of Russia just as he had previously done in the Sublime Porte at Constantinople, the new king, Gustav IV, still a minor, was brought up among Jacobins. During the kings minority, Gustaf Reuterholm virtually ruled Sweden, the negotiations with the French Jacobins exacerbated the hatred which Gustavs supporters felt for the Jacobin counselors of Charles, the duke-regent, later Charles XIII of Sweden. They formed a conspiracy to overthrow the government, led by Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, which was to have been supported by a Russian fleet, the conspiracy was discovered and vigorously suppressed

28.
Instrument of Government (1809)
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The Instrument of Government adopted on 6 June 1809 by the Riksdag of the Estates was one of the fundamental laws that made up the constitution of Sweden from 1809 to 1974. The coup enabled Gustav III to rule as an enlightened despot and this provided momentum for the Swedish nobility and other forces to depose the king and restore political power to the Estates. The aged and childless brother of Gustav III, Charles XIII was made king in 1809, but he was a puppet in the hands of the Estates. The rights of Bernadottes successors to accede to the Swedish throne were codified in an amendment to the constitution in the form of the Act of Succession, the Instrument of Government of 1809 replaced the Instrument of Government of 1772. It established a separation of powers between the branch and the legislative branch. The King and Riksdag possessed joint power over legislation, while the Riksdag had sole power over the budget, originally, ministers were politically responsible solely to the king, who appointed and dismissed them. However, they were responsible to the Riksdag and a special court according to a special statute. As the Riksdags authority grew, it increasingly difficult for a government to stay in office solely with the Crowns support. This culminated in 1907, when a government was chosen that was dependent more on the confidence of the Riksdag than on that of the King. After a great victory in 1917, it was obvious that the King could no longer pick a government entirely of his choosing. At that time, it was established that ministers were politically responsible to the Riksdag. From then on, while ministers were formally appointed by the King, convention required him to ensure they had the support of a majority in the Riksdag. In 1975, it was replaced by a new Instrument of Government, during the period when it was in force several important reforms took place without affecting its status. In 1866 the Four Estates were replaced by a bicameral parliament, in the early 20th century universal suffrage was introduced and the country became a de facto parliamentary monarchy. In 1970 the parliament was transformed from a bicameral legislature to a unicameral one, history of Sweden Politics of Sweden Constitution of Sweden King in Council Privy Council of Sweden Gustavian Party Regeringsform 1809 - at Wikisource Historiska dokument - at Wikisource

29.
Sweden in Union with Norway
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The Union between Sweden and Norway is an overriding theme of the history of Sweden in the 19th century. On 4 November 1814, the kingdoms of Sweden and Norway formed a union under one king. The two countries had separate institutions, except for the foreign service led by the king through the Swedish foreign minister. The Union was the realisation of an idea that had been nursed in Sweden for a long time, when it was finally accomplished, it was due to political circumstances beyond the borders of Scandinavia. The Napoleonic wars caused Finland to be separated from Sweden, Sweden actively exploited the opportunity, while Norway reluctantly submitted to another inevitable union. That initial disparity between the partners caused recurring political conflicts, and their different interpretations of the union eventually brought them apart and it was dissolved peacefully in 1905. Gustav IV Adolf ascended to the throne of Sweden in 1792, after the assassination of his father and his reign was ill-fated and was to end abruptly. After the conclusion of the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit, Sweden was invited to join the Continental System, the king instead entered into negotiations with Britain in order to prepare a joint attack against Denmark–Norway, with the intention of acquiring Norway. In the meantime, the preemptive British attack on the Danish navy, as Sweden in the meantime had sided with the British, Denmark-Norway was forced by Napoleon to declare war on Sweden on 29 February 1808. Sweden now faced a two-front war, as Russia had invaded Finland on 21 February, viewing the possibility of a joint Danish and French attack as the greater danger, king Gustav IV concentrated his army in southern Sweden and staged an invasion of Norway. The Norwegian army, commanded by the general Christian August of Augustenborg, viceroy of Norway and he refrained from pursuing the Swedish army beyond the border, while Sweden was hard pressed by the Russians in Finland, contrary to urgent requests from king Frederick VI. By the autumn of 1808, the Russians had occupied all of Finland, on 7 March 1809, when it was clear that Sweden would lose the war with Russia, officers who were resentful at the conduct of the war staged a coup détat and deposed the king. He was forced to abdicate on 29 March and was imprisoned with his family in Gripsholm castle, on 5 June the duke regent Charles XIII was proclaimed king after accepting a new liberal constitution, which was ratified by the Riksdag the next day. In December Gustav and his family were transported to Germany, Charles XIII was both infirm and childless. To secure the succession to the throne, he adopted Prince Christian August of Augustenborg as his heir, Christian August had been viceroy of Norway and commander-in-chief of the Norwegian army during its successful resistance to the Swedish invasion in 1808–09. His great popularity in Norway was considered an advantage to the Swedish plans for the acquisition of that country, in addition, he had demonstrated his interest in a rapprochement between the two countries by refraining from invading Sweden during the war with Russia. As crown prince of Sweden, he changed his name to Carl August of Augustenborg, after his mysterious death on 28 May 1810, the French marshal Bernadotte was adopted by Charles XIII and received the homage of the estates on 5 November 1810. The new crown prince was soon the most popular and the most powerful man in Sweden

30.
Union between Sweden and Norway
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The Norwegian government was presided over by viceroys, Swedes until 1829, Norwegians until 1856. That office was vacant and then abolished in 1873. Foreign policy was conducted through the Swedish foreign ministry until the dissolution of the union in 1905, by the 1814 Treaty of Kiel, the King of Denmark-Norway was forced to cede Norway to the King of Sweden. But Norway refused to submit to the treaty provisions, declared independence, after the adoption of the new Constitution of Norway on 17 May 1814, Prince Christian Frederick was elected king. On 4 November the Storting elected Charles XIII as the King of Norway, Sweden accepted the unions dissolution on 26 October. After a plebiscite confirming the election of Danish Prince Carl as the new king of Norway, he accepted the Stortings offer of the throne on 18 November and took the regnal name of Haakon VII. After the establishment of absolutism in 1660, a centralised form of government was established. The united kingdoms are referred to as Denmark-Norway by later historians, the ambitious wars waged by king Charles XII, however, led to the loss of that status after the Great Northern War, 1700–1721. Sweden also invaded Norway in 1567,1644,1658 and 1716, to wrest the country away from the union with Denmark, the repeated wars and invasions led to popular resentment against Sweden among Norwegians. During the 18th century, Norway enjoyed a period of great prosperity, the biggest growth industry was the export of planks, with Great Britain as the chief market. Some members of the aristocracy saw Sweden as a more natural partner. Around 1800, many prominent Norwegians secretly favoured a break with Denmark and their undeclared leader was Count Herman Wedel-Jarlsberg. The Swedish policy during the period was to cultivate contacts in Norway. King Gustav III actively approached circles in Norway that might favour a union with Sweden instead of Denmark, such endeavours on both sides of the border toward a rapprochement were far from realistic before the Napoleonic Wars created conditions that caused political upheavals in Scandinavia. Sweden and Denmark-Norway tried to remain neutral during the Napoleonic wars, both countries joined Russia and Prussia in a League of Armed Neutrality in 1800. Denmark-Norway was forced to withdraw from the League after the British raid on the navy during the first Battle of Copenhagen in April 1801, the league collapsed after the assassination of Tsar Paul I of Russia in 1801. Denmark-Norway was compelled into an alliance with France after the British preemptive second attack on the Danish navy, the defenceless capital had to surrender the navy after heavy bombardment, because the army was at the southern border to defend it against a possible French attack. As Sweden in the meantime had sided with the British, Denmark-Norway was forced by Napoleon to declare war on Sweden on 29 February 1808

31.
Sweden during the late 19th century
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At the accession of Oscar II to the throne on September 18,1872, the economic condition of Sweden was fairly satisfactory. In foreign affairs the security situation was good, politically, however, the situation was tense as the reforms inaugurated during the preceding reign did not answer expectations. Within three years of the introduction of the new electoral laws Louis De Geer ministry had forfeited much of its former popularity, the government stood midway between these conflicting majorities in the chambers, without support in either. The Swedish Lantmanna party was formed in 1867 and it consisted mostly of the larger and smaller peasant proprietors, who at the time of the old Riksdag of the Estates were always opposed to the nobility and the clergy. Such was the state of affairs when Oscar II of Sweden, surrounded by his late brothers advisers, began his reign. One of his first priorities was to increase the strength of his Royal Swedish Navy, in the first Riksdag, however, the so-called compromise, which afterwards played such an important part in Swedish political life, came into existence. The King himself perceived in the compromise a means of solving the conflicting questions and this motion having been rejected, De Geer resigned, and was succeeded by Count Arvid Posse. The new Prime Minister endeavoured to solve the question of defence in accordance with the views of the Lantmanna party, in this last connection the most suitable types of vessels for coast defence as for offence were determined upon. But Count Posse, deserted by his own party over the bill, resigned, and was succeeded on May 16,1884 by Robert Themptander. The government, availing itself of its right not to dissolve the chamber in which it had the support of a majority. The new Riksdag assembled in May with a free trade majority in the Second Chamber, the victory of the free traders was not to be of long duration. The protectionists obtained a majority in both chambers in the next Riksdag in 1888 and this singular way of electing members for the principal city in the kingdom could not fail further to irritate the parties. One result of the Stockholm election came at a convenient time for the Themptander ministry, the financial affairs of the country were found to be in a most unsatisfactory state. The new taxes, together with an increase of the duty on spirits. At a Council of State on October 12,1888 the king declared his wishes as to the way in which this surplus should be used and it is most likely that protectionism was a political concession made to a Otto Van Bismarck as an instrument of social cause. This was allowed because of the inability of the Swedish population to stand up to its King and it is ironical that a nation that pioneers in the study of economics fails to make use of its effort. – Amanbir Baron Bildt resigned as soon as the new system seemed settled, the latter, however, also soon resigned, and was succeeded on the July 10,1891 by Erik Gustaf Boström, a landed proprietor. The protectionist system gained in favour on the expiry of the treaty with France in 1892

32.
Sweden during World War I
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Sweden, following its long-standing policy of neutrality since the Napoleonic Wars, remained neutral throughout World War I between 28 July 1914 and 11 November 1918. However, this neutrality was not maintained without difficulty and Sweden at various times sympathised with different parties in the conflict, whilst King Gustaf was married to a German, the Swedish Riksmarskalk, Ludvig Douglas, was also known to be a strong proponent of an alliance with Germany. Rearmament was a concern in Sweden due to growing tensions in Europe. In response King Gustaf gave a written by the ardently pro-German explorer. When King Gustaf refused to tone down his rhetoric on the subject of defence spending, Sweden declared neutrality in the Austro-Serbian conflict on 31 July 1914, and in the general conflict of Germany against France and Russia on the 4th of August. Both declarations left open the possibility that Sweden might later change her position if other countries joined the conflict, apparently fearful that Germany might issue an ultimatum demanding Sweden choose sides Wallenberg also promised Franz von Reichenau that Swedish neutrality would be benevolent to Germany. The position of Norway also concerned Wallenberg, as he believed that the Norwegians would prefer to intervene on the British side if they entered the war. On the 8th of August the two issued a joint declaration of neutrality warning that they would maintain their neutrality against all belligerents. A further joint declaration was made by the three kings of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden in December 1914, and the Swedish army units that had sent to the Finnish border were stood down. Douglas then conveyed this offer to King Gustaf on 8 June 1915, following this failure, Prince Max of Baden, a cousin of the Swedish Queen Victoria, made a further overture to King Gustaf. King Gustaf rejected this offer on 20 November 1915 as, without a casus belli. Whilst talk of an alliance eventually came to nothing, Sweden did favour Russia over the Germany in at least one important respect and this allowed the Germans to communicate with their embassies via Stockholm without their communications being so easily censored and intercepted by the British. Throughout the war Germany applied pressure on Sweden and Denmark to close the channels connecting the Baltic sea to the North Sea to Allied warships. Whilst Denmark had given into this pressure and mined the Danish Straits at the outbreak of the war, when Royal Navy submarines entered the Baltic through the sound in October 1914, the Germans demanded that the Swedes carry out their promise. In October 1915 British submarines operating in the Baltic successfully sank several German cargo ships as well as the armoured cruiser SMS Prinz Adalbert, a German warship opened fire on a Swedish submarine HSwMS Hvalen killing a member of the crew. According to the captain of the Hvalen, the submarine was flying the Swedish naval flag at the time and was sailing in Swedish home waters, compensation was later paid to the widow of the crew-member and an apology was issued. The mining of the channel drew criticism from the Allied powers, causing them to describe Sweden as “neutral with reservations. ”Prior to the outbreak of war, the export of iron-ore from iron-ore mines in two iron-ore fields in Swedish Lapland had been a major export-business for Sweden. The iron-ore export business was run by an association in which the Swedish government was a member, the advent of war changed this

33.
Sweden during World War II
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Sweden maintained its policy of neutrality during World War II. When the war began on September 1,1939, the fate of Sweden was unclear, at the outbreak of hostilities, Sweden had held a neutral stance in international relations for more than a century, since the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. The Swedish Government made a few concessions, and sometimes breached the nations neutrality in favor of both Germany and the Western Allies, German soldiers traveling on leave between Norway and Germany were allowed passage through Sweden — the so-called permittenttrafik. Iron ore was sold to Germany throughout the war, and for the Allies, Sweden shared military intelligence and helped to train soldiers made up of refugees from Denmark and Norway, to be used in the liberation of their home countries. It also allowed the Allies to use Swedish airbases between 1944 and 1945, Sweden also became a refuge for anti-fascist and Jewish refugees from all over the region. In 1943, following an order to all of Denmarks Jewish population to concentration camps. Sweden also became a refuge for Norwegian Jews who fled from Nazi occupied Norway, between 1523 and Swedens final war with Russia in 1809, a state of war had existed between these two countries for 67 out of those 292 years. Russia was seen as the hereditary enemy of Sweden. In the peace that followed the Finnish War in 1809, all of Finland had been ceded to Russia, as the end of the 19th century approached, and the beginning of the 20th began, Sweden, like many other nations, became beset by strikes and public disorder. Appalling working conditions were no longer tolerated and the class was rising against the state. In 1908 alone, there were about 300 strikes in Sweden, by 1917, Sweden’s need for a new political system was apparent from these riots. In 1917, the rules of democracy were changed in Sweden, but even these reforms were seen as far too radical by some conservatives. Some wanted strong leadership and did not believe in democracy, in the 1920s and 1930s, confrontations between employers and employees in Sweden continued. In 1931, this culminated with the shootings, an incident where the military opened fire on a protest march. In the same year, a secret right-wing militia, the Munckska kåren, was exposed and it had recruited about 2000 men and had access to heavy weaponry. It was disbanded the next year, compromise and a parliamentary system were thought to stand in the way of a more equal and just society. A new cabinet led by the social democrats with Per Albin Hansson as Prime Minister, a policy of cooperation and consensus was pursued, which led to a furthering of the divide between the two socialist factions, the communists and the reformist left. The distance between two, at least at the ideological level, became so great that the communists often referred to the social democrats as the social fascists

34.
Military history of Sweden
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During the prehistoric times, modern Sweden was divided into provinces and in the Svea and Göta kingdoms. There is said that wars were fought between Svear and Götar and that the former were victors, as the Icelandic sagas tell of many family feuds, one can assume that these were not uncommon in Sweden either, as the structure of the society was similar. During the early Middle Ages, many Vikings took recruitment in the fleet, the system of Leidang was used to organize the armies in the different parts of the country. In an alliance with the Danes, the Swedish king Olof Skötkonung won the war against the Norwegians at the battle of Svolder. The Russo-Swedish War was a result of an alliance between Ivan III of Russia and Hans of Denmark, who was waging war against the Sture family of Sweden in the hope of regaining the Swedish throne. Ivan III sent Princes Daniil Shchenya and Vasily Shuisky to lay siege to the Swedish castle of Vyborg. The siege lasted for three months and ended when a castellan set his supply of powder on fire, thus scaring the Muscovites out of their wits, the following year Russian generals Vasily Kosoy and Andrey Chelyadnin severely devastated Swedish Finland as far as Hämeenlinna. Another detachment sailed along the shore, forcing the Finns into subservience, the fortress was taken but was impossible to defend it for a considerable period of time — Svante Nilsson proposed to hand it over to the Knights, an offer which they declined. Thereupon the Swedes set the fortress ablaze and sailed home, after the Swedish throne fell to Hans of Denmark, hostilities were suspended until 1508, when Sweden and Russia ratified a peace treaty for 60 years. The campaign was a result of an alliance between Charles IX of Sweden and Vasili IV of Russia, whereby the latter promised to cede the County of Kexholm to Sweden. The combined Russo-Swedish forces set out from Novgorod late in 1609 and marched towards Moscow and they dispersed the supporters of False Dmitry II, who maintained an alternative court in Tushino near Moscow and challenged the authority of Vasily IV. In June 1610, De la Gardie and Dmitry Shuisky departed from Moscow in order to lift Żółkiewskis Siege of Smolensk, the campaign ended with most of De la Gardies forces being destroyed by the Polish hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski at the Battle of Klushino in 1610. The De la Gardie Campaign can be considered a prelude to the Ingrian War and it ended with a large Swedish territorial gain in the Treaty of Stolbovo which laid an important foundation to Swedens Age of Greatness. The Kalmar War was a war between Sweden and Denmark 1611 to 1613, Sweden sought an alternative trade route to avoid paying Denmarks Sound Toll through Northern Norway. This was not to Denmarks liking and they invaded southern Sweden, england and the Netherlands were also invested in the Baltic Sea trade, and pressured to curtail Denmarks power by ending the Kalmar War before a decisive victory could be attained. The Danes, while well-equipped and strong, had relied heavily on mercenary forces and Christian IV, with Englands intercession, the Treaty of Knäred was signed on January 20,1613. Denmark reached its victory, restoring Norwegian control of Swedens land route through Lapland by incorporating Lapland into Norway, further, Sweden had to pay a high ransom for two fortresses captured by Denmark. Sweden, however, achieved a major concession — the right of trade through the Sound Strait

35.
Old Norse
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Old Norse was a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during about the 9th to 13th centuries. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century, Old Norse was divided into three dialects, Old West Norse, Old East Norse and Old Gutnish. Old West and East Norse formed a continuum, with no clear geographical boundary between them. For example, Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway, although Old Norwegian is classified as Old West Norse, most speakers spoke Old East Norse in what is present day Denmark and Sweden. Old Gutnish, the more obscure dialectal branch, is included in the Old East Norse dialect due to geographical associations. It developed its own features and shared in changes to both other branches. The 12th century Icelandic Gray Goose Laws state that Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders and Danes spoke the same language, another term used, used especially commonly with reference to West Norse, was norrœnt mál. In some instances the term Old Norse refers specifically to Old West Norse, the Old East Norse dialect was spoken in Denmark, Sweden, settlements in Kievan Rus, eastern England, and Danish settlements in Normandy. The Old Gutnish dialect was spoken in Gotland and in settlements in the East. In the 11th century, Old Norse was the most widely spoken European language, in Kievan Rus, it survived the longest in Veliky Novgorod, probably lasting into the 13th century there. Norwegian is descended from Old West Norse, but over the centuries it has heavily influenced by East Norse. Old Norse also had an influence on English dialects and Lowland Scots and it also influenced the development of the Norman language, and through it and to a smaller extent, that of modern French. Various other languages, which are not closely related, have heavily influenced by Norse, particularly the Norman dialects, Scottish Gaelic. The current Finnish and Estonian words for Sweden are Ruotsi and Rootsi, of the modern languages, Icelandic is the closest to Old Norse. Written modern Icelandic derives from the Old Norse phonemic writing system, contemporary Icelandic-speakers can read Old Norse, which varies slightly in spelling as well as semantics and word order. However, pronunciation, particularly of the phonemes, has changed at least as much as in the other North Germanic languages. Faroese retains many similarities but is influenced by Danish, Norwegian, although Swedish, Danish and the Norwegian languages have diverged the most, they still retain asymmetric mutual intelligibility. Speakers of modern Swedish, Norwegian and Danish can mostly understand each other without studying their neighboring languages, the languages are also sufficiently similar in writing that they can mostly be understood across borders

36.
Runes
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The Scandinavian variants are also known as futhark or fuþark, the Anglo-Saxon variant is futhorc or fuþorc. Runology is the study of the runic alphabets, runic inscriptions, runestones, runology forms a specialised branch of Germanic linguistics. The earliest runic inscriptions date from around 150 AD, the characters were generally replaced by the Latin alphabet as the cultures that had used runes underwent Christianisation, by approximately 700 AD in central Europe and 1100 AD in northern Europe. However, the use of runes persisted for specialized purposes in northern Europe, until the early 20th century, runes were used in rural Sweden for decorative purposes in Dalarna and on Runic calendars. The three best-known runic alphabets are the Elder Futhark, the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, and the Younger Futhark, the Younger Futhark is divided further into the long-branch runes, short-branch or Rök runes, and the stavlösa or Hälsinge runes. The Younger Futhark developed further into the Medieval runes, and the Dalecarlian runes, historically, the runic alphabet is a derivation of the Old Italic scripts of antiquity, with the addition of some innovations. Which variant of the Old Italic family in particular gave rise to the runes is uncertain, suggestions include Raetic, Venetic, Etruscan, or Old Latin as candidates. At the time, all of these scripts had the same angular letter shapes suited for epigraphy, the process of transmission of the script is unknown. The oldest inscriptions are found in Denmark and northern Germany, not near Italy, a West Germanic hypothesis suggests transmission via Elbe Germanic groups, while a Gothic hypothesis presumes transmission via East Germanic expansion. The runes were in use among the Germanic peoples from the 1st or 2nd century AD, no distinction is made in surviving runic inscriptions between long and short vowels, although such a distinction was certainly present phonologically in the spoken languages of the time. Similarly, there are no signs for labiovelars in the Elder Futhark The term runes is used to distinguish these symbols from Latin and it is attested on a 6th-century Alamannic runestaff as runa and possibly as runo on the 4th-century Einang stone. The name comes from the Germanic root run-, meaning secret or whisper, in Old Irish Gaelic, the word rún means mystery, secret, intention or affectionate love. Similarly in Welsh and Old English, the word rhin and rūn respectively means mystery, secret, secret writing, or sometimes in the sense of the word. Ogham is a Celtic script, similarly carved in the Norse manner, the root run- can also be found in the Baltic languages, meaning speech. In Lithuanian, runoti means both to cut and to speak, according to another theory, the Germanic root comes from the Indoeuropean root *reuə- dig. The Finnish term for rune, riimukirjain, means scratched letter, the Finnish word runo means poem and comes from the same source as the English word rune, it is a very old loan of the Proto-Germanic *rūnō. The runes developed centuries after the Old Italic alphabets from which they are historically derived. The formation of the Elder Futhark was complete by the early 5th century, specifically, the Raetic alphabet of Bolzano is often advanced as a candidate for the origin of the runes, with only five Elder Futhark runes having no counterpart in the Bolzano alphabet